Expert: US migrants to keep driving remittance growth

Remittance growth in Haiti this year will continue to be driven primarily by the large number of Haitians living in the US, a specialist at the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank told BNamericas. Around 71% of the US$1.65bn remittances sent by Haitians living abroad last year came from the US, according to a recent MIF study. "Remittance growth is mainly driven by migration but also by transaction costs. We are trying to create competition between remittance companies and encourage the emergence of new technologies to reduce transaction costs and fees," Jempsy Fils-Aimé said. MIF is also trying to improve the collection of remittance data and connect remittance beneficiaries to the financial market so they can access credit, saving accounts and insurance products, according to the specialist. About 1.1mn people received remittances on a regular basis in 2006 with the average at US$150. Remittance companies transferred 83% of total money sent to Haiti in 2006, while banks transferred 6%. Remittances represent a key source of income for the Haitian population, accounting for a third of the country's GDP. There is an increased interest in remittances in Haiti. Fils-Aimé said more than 200 people attended a conference on remittances held in Port-au-Prince last week, including representatives from the government, remittances companies, the Haitian diaspora, commercial banks, microfinance institutions, cooperatives and NGOs.