Dr .Dilip Ratha is a specialist on migration and remittances and head of KNOMAD World Bank. He was one of the speakers at a webinar jointly organized by the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism, Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) and Cross Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants (CCRM) which took place on the 21st July 2020.The moderator, Mr William Gois (Regional Coordinator of the MFA), raised questions on the need to ascertain how much of the remittances is being lost in wage theft in any given year and how best the case can be addressed. Dr. Dilip spoke about the decline in remittances, the reasons for the decline and way forward.
Huge remittances were recorded in 2019
Dr. Ratha in his opening remarks said that there was a twenty percent decline in remittances this year due to some reasons, such as inability of some employers to pay the migrants workers, decreasing wages and the issue of workers’ pay cut as a result of contract renegotiation between workers and their employers.
This year recorded a sharp decline in migrant workers’ remittances in comparison to the year 2019. In 2019, 554 billion dollars was recorded as remittances while this year it is expected to be around 109 billion.
“Remittances in 2019 made a significant milestone because for the first time, it overtook the foreign direct investment flow to all the multinational companies of this world”, Dr Ratha said.
Decline in remittances: Nepal and ‘conflict countries’ recorded sharp decline
Dr. Ratha further highlighted that some countries which recorded sharp decline in remittances include Nepal where remittances form one-third of her national economy. Other countries with similar situations include conflict zones like Afghanistan, South Sudan and Haiti.
Dr. Ratha said this will translate to the fact that many families that rely on remittance to sustain themselves or to avoid poverty will now fall back into poverty due to decline in the remittances. “What we are seeing now is the crisis causing more of wage theft, unemployment , and wage loss which will translate into lower remittances and thus leading to a lot of hardship”, Dr. Rathasaid.
Policy suggestions to reduce the cases of wage theft
Dr. Ratha in his closing remarks came up with a few policy suggestions to reduce cases of wage theft which include the need to put good social protection measures in place which would address health care, hygiene, accessibility to housing and running water.
He called for free flow of remittance in order to help migrants’ workers and their relatives back home who rely on remittances. Dr. Ratha also called for easing of banking transaction for migrant workers especially in the host countries.
Report by: Oluwaseyi Olawuyi, he is an independent migration and environmental consultant, CEO at World Ecological Concepts Ltd. Nigeria. Twitter @Omoobalans