Moldova leads the world in immigrant cash remittances

Human beings are Moldova's leading export: Between 800,000 and 1.1 million Moldovans are now working abroad

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Tiraspol Times) - According to the World Bank’s new Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008, Moldova is the world's top receiver of migrant remittances as a percentage share of Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

Moldova is the world's most remittance-dependent country. Cash sent from overseas was worth an estimated 36.5 percent of GDP in 2007 - well above exports of goods and services, and more than five times the amount of foreign aid.

The factbook provides snapshots of statistics on migration, recorded remittances flows, and skilled emigration for 194 countries, and 13 regional and income groups. According to the World Bank, data from the factbook have been available online since November 2007, with updating done in real time as new data become available.

The world's top recipient countries of recorded remittances as a share of GDP were Moldova (36.5 percent), Tajikistan (36.0 percent), Tonga (32 percent), the Kyrgyz Republic (27 percent), and Honduras (26 percent). These flows do not include informal channels, which the World Bank says would significantly enlarge the volume of remittances if they were recorded. The money earned by Moldova's gast-arbeiters and sent back to their relatives at home is what keeps the country alive.

" - In many developing countries, remittances provide a life line for the poor," said Dilip Ratha, senior economist, and author of the factbook with Zhimei Xu. "They are often an essential source of foreign exchange and a stabilizing force for the economy in turbulent times."

Mismanagement in Moldova

Moldova was once a breadbasket of the former Soviet Union, known for its agricultural bounty and fine wines, but has struggled to adapt to its independence and is now the poorest country in Europe. A fifth of its million population lives on less than $2 a day, according to the UNDP.

By 2000, less than a decade after independence, Moldova's economic output had fallen by nearly 50 percent. As a result of crushing poverty and rising unemployment, more than 800,000 Moldovans are believed to be working abroad - the majority in European Union countries and others in Russia. Other agencies put the figure at well above a million. One in four young people is believed to be an economic migrant. However, most are working illegally and thus vulnerable to exploitation.

Human trafficking is a significant problem in Moldova and frequently takes place with either direct involvement or at least the silent knowledge of government officials. Human beings are now Moldova's leading export. The country's government has been listed as Europe's most corrupt in a number of international studies.

While foreign aid continues to pour in, especially from Western donors, the money is being lost in a wilderness of official corruption and Swiss-held bank accounts. Oleg Voronin, the son of Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin is reputedly a billionaire and is today said to be the country's richest man. (With information from the World Bank, Reuters)

See also:
» IMF puts Moldova in first place for illegal immigrant cash in 2008
» Moldova falling apart as corruption, poverty force half the country to leave
» New book lists Moldova as world's unhappiest country

On the web:
» The Migration and Remittances Factbook 2008