Money transfers from Latin American and Caribbean migrants to their home countries are likely to stabilise in 2010 after suffering a 15 per cent drop in 2009, according to a new report last Thursday by the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund (FOMIN).
Remittances to the region fell to US$58.8 billion last year, below the level reached in 2006. Jamaica's inflows also dipped but at a rate below the average for the region.
The Department of Finance (DOF) has asked President Arroyo to veto a provision in the new Migrant Workers Act that exempts money sent home by overseas Filipinos from the documentary stamp tax (DST) as this was just inserted in the bicameral committee's version of the bill.
In a letter submitted to Malacañang, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the bicameral committee inserted and approved the provision exempting OFW remittances from the DST without consulting the Finance Department.
Executive Summary The current food security situation, which rapidly deteriorated following the January 12 earthquake, has recently improved in response to 1) the provision of emergency food and non- food aid; 2) increased remittances; and 3) increased labor opportunities through cash- for- work activities and the resumption of casual labor and small business activities.
Remittances Also Benefit the U.S. Economy, Report Shows
Friday, 26 February 2010 13:13
Source: AllGov By Noel Brinkerhoff
Immigrants in the U.S. who send money to their home countries not only help foreign economies but American businesses as well. The Immigration Policy Center has produced a new study that refutes the notion that remittances are bad for the U.S. economy, demonstrating that the exportation of American dollars by immigrants ultimately assists goods and services that Americans sell abroad.