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IDB's MIF to release latest data on remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean

The Multilateral Investment Fund will hold a press conference at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 27 at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC to release its latest estimates on remittances sent by Latin American and Caribbean immigrants to their home countries.

Remittance flows have risen dramatically over the past decade to become a key source of capital for many Latin American and Caribbean nations, by far exceeding the overseas aid and almost matching the volume of foreign direct investment received by the region.

At the press conference, which will be held at the IDB’s headquarters (1300 New York Ave, NW, 9th floor Breakout Room), MIF Manager Donald F. Terry will present a country-by-country breakdown of remittance flows for 2002. The data will include estimates for countries that had not been individualized in previous studies, such as Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.

Terry will also discuss the findings of recent MIF-sponsored studies on:

  • A comparison of the costs of wiring money from various industrialized nations to Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
  • The prospects for improving Latino immigrants’ access to U.S. financial institutions.
  • The experience of Spain’s credit unions in slashing the cost of remittances.

Thursday’s press conference will precede a Friday, February 28 seminar organized by the MIF, Transnational Communities: International Experiences in Remittances, which will also be held at the IDB headquarters.

The MIF, an autonomous fund managed by the IDB, promotes private sector development in Latin America and the Caribbean through grants and investments. Among other issues, it works to bring down the costs of remittances by encouraging competition among service providers and by brokering links between financial institutions in industrialized nations and developing countries, with a preference for credit unions and microfinance institutions.

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