Migrant workers last year sent home more than $301bn (￡148bn, ?212bn) to their families in developing countries ? an amount nearly a third higher than previous published estimates ? according to new research published yesterday.
联合国国际农业发展基金(IFAD)和美洲开发银行(Inter-American Development Bank)联合进行的这项研究，与世界银行(World Bank)最近公布的数字形成比较。世界银行估计，移民工人2006年汇回国内的资金为2070亿美元，尽管该行表示，如果将通过非正规渠道转移回国内的资金包括在内，总额可能更高。
The study by the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Inter-American Development Bank compares with recent World Bank figures for 2006 of $207bn, although the bank said the total would be higher if money sent through informal channels were included.
It shows that the economies of some poorer countries and regions, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, are more dependent on remittances than had been thought. “Remittances represent a lifeline to struggling economies,” said Lennart B?ge, the president of IFAD.
As well as using the official numbers recorded by central banks, researchers from IFAD and IDB drew on opinion polls, surveys of household spending and academic research, and on official records from banks and money transfer operators.
Economic liberalisation and rising cross-border migration has triggered a sharp rise in remittance flows in the last two decades, with flows to developing countries up from $18.4bn in 1980. But part of the increase reflects the fact that central banks in several countries have adjusted the way they collect data.
对汇款规模了解程度的加深，促进了决策者对这个问题的关注，鼓励了政界人士消除对汇款的限制。
Greater knowledge of the size of remittance flows has helped policy-makers focus on the issue and encouraged politicians to eliminate restrictions that make it difficult to send money.
另外，它还吸引了金融机构从事汇款业务，加剧了竞争，压低了汇款的平均成本。
It has also attracted financial institutions to the business of money transfer, increasing competition and driving down the average cost of making a remittance.
In Latin America, for example, where central banks have made most progress in assessing the real size of the remittance market, competition between banks and money transfer companies, such as Western Union and MoneyGram, is acute and commissions have fallen by about two thirds to average about 5 per cent in the past seven years.
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