MADRID: While governments and international organizations discuss the possibilities of increasing trade, investments and aid to developing countries, a flow of money invisible in many statistics plays an important role in sustaining their economies.
Experts estimate that 86 million emigrants all over the world send to their countries of origin between 150 and 300 billion dollars annually, according to figures quoted by the Spanish daily El Pais.
In the Cape Verde Islands, for instance, two-thirds of families receive money from abroad. In the Dominican Republic, such remittances make up 10 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
In countries such as Morocco and Ecuador, money sent by emigrants constitutes one of the main sources of foreign currency. Countries receiving substantial contributions also include India, Mexico, the Philippines, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon.
The money sent by Latin Americans from the United States, Spain and other countries has almost doubled to 38 billion dollars between 2001 and 2003, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.
The remittances dwarf the combined value of foreign direct investment and multilateral aid in most of the 19 Latin American and Caribbean countries surveyed by the bank.
As the number of Moroccans abroad has soared to 2.5 million, the money sent by them has helped 1.2 million people back home to rise from poverty, demographer Jamal Bourchachen estimates.
The flow of emigrant money consists of small sums sent mainly through wiring agencies such as Western Union or MoneyGram, which are mushrooming and try to attract clients with special offers.
The money arrives on the other side of the world within minutes, but the wiring agencies often remain an expensive way of sending money, and traditional financial institutions are eyeing their market.
Working extremely hard for low wages, immigrants making a living as maids, construction workers and the like struggle to help support their families back home.
"I spend hardly anything on myself," said Peruvian immigrant Estela, who works as a domestic employee in Madrid. "I only buy the cheapest clothes, and that way I manage to send my widowed mother 150 euros every month."
The money sent by immigrants in Spain is not used only for everyday needs back home, but also to build houses and pay debts. Studies by the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund in Mexico, Ecuador and Central America indicate that up to 20 per cent of the remittances are directed towards long-term savings or investments.
The money sent by emigrants can contribute to the development of entire regions, and raises questions about the efficiency of traditional development aid.
The remittances are not tied to conditions set by donor countries or to economic conjunctures, and they go directly to meet the needs of the people instead of being pocketed by corrupt politicians.
The need for remittances from emigrants puts many developing countries in a difficult situation. Morocco's relations with Spain, for instance, have suffered over accusations by the latter that its southern neighbour was not making a serious effort to stem the tide of illegal immigrants.-dpa