According to the report, salary increases and a healthy labour market in the US and other OECD nations helped to increase remittances to India.
Governments in the Gulf Cooperation Council destinations supported low inflation through direct assistance programmes that safeguarded migrant workers’ capacity to remit. In the second quarter of 2022, sending $200 to the area cost, on average, 4.1 percent less than it did a year earlier.
Remittances to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) grew by an expected 5% to USD 626 billion in 2022, despite global headwinds. According to the most recent World Bank Migration and Development Brief, this is significantly less than the 10.2% increase in 2021.
For LMICs, remittances are a crucial source of household income. They reduce poverty, boost nutritional outcomes, and are linked to higher birth weights and school enrolment rates for kids from low-income families.
The World Bank claims that research demonstrates that remittances aid recipient households in developing resilience, for instance through funding better housing and coping with losses in the wake of disasters.
Several variables influenced remittance flows to developing regions in 2022. As the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, host economies began to recover, supporting migrant workers’ employment and their capacity to continue supporting their family at home.
On the other hand, the World Bank brief stated that rising prices had a negative impact on migrants’ real incomes. The value of remittances is also influenced by the appreciation of the ruble, which resulted in a higher value of outgoing remittances from Russia to Central Asia in terms of U.S. dollars.
“While providing for their families through remittances, migrants assist in loosening up restrictive labour markets in their host nations. Workers have been aided in navigating the financial and employment uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic by inclusive social protection policies. Remittances from such initiatives have an influence everywhere, thus they must be maintained “said Michal Rutkowski, director of social protection and employment at the World Bank.
The Brief emphasises that increasing pressures from climate change would both cause increases in movement within countries and harm livelihoods in a special feature on climate-driven migration. The poorest are likely to be most impacted since they frequently lack the means to change or relocate.
Studies have shown that migration can help people cope with the effects of climate change, for instance by allowing people to flee from disasters and by sending remittances and other types of support to households who are affected.
The World Bank stated that in order to address the issue of climate-related migration, particularly in the context of cross-border mobility, as is the case for small island nations, adjustments in international legal standards and institutional frameworks for migration may be necessary.
