by TONY BEST

West Indians living abroad remain a financial lifeline to many Caribbean nations.

And although the amounts they provide typically range from US$200 to $300 at a time, in 2007 the remittances they sent back home came to a whopping US$8.1 billion to the Caribbean, accounting in some cases to at least a third of the economies of nations in the region which receive funds from nationals in North America, Europe and elsewhere.

At least US$5 billion of those funds went to CARICOM states, particularly Jamaica, Haiti, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname
and Belize.

Report

In its annual report on remittances to Caribbean and Latin American nations in 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank's Multi-lateral Investment Fund stated that Jamaicans, Haitians, Guyanese, Trinidadians, Surinamese and Belizeans in that order sent a record amount of funds to relatives and close friends last year.

And while the MIF didn't cite a specific sum for Barbados, the United Nations and the World Bank had previously estimated that Bajans abroad had sent more than US$140 million to their country.

Overall, remittances to the Caribbean and Latin America rose by seven per cent in 2007 over the figure for 2006, the first year for which there wasn't a double-digit increase, stated the Fund.

Importance

The importance of the remittances, the MIF explained, could be seen
in "the significant contribution to the
region's economy".

For instance, Jamaicans remitted US$1.9 billion to relatives, accounting for 18 per cent of the country's gross domestic product while Haitians' US$1.8 billion in remittances represented 35 per cent
of the GDP.

Guyana's was by far the largest single contributor to the GDP. The US$424 million may have been about 16 per cent of Jamaicans' flow but the money was 43 per cent of the economy.

The smallest contribution to GDP was the US$125 million repatriated to Trinidad and Tobago. It represented one per cent of the economy while in Suriname's case, the US$115 million was
five per cent.

The Dominican Republic was the largest single recipient of remittances in the larger Caribbean region, receiving $3.1 billion.

Closer look

Belize's receipts of US$105 million were the equivalent of eight
per cent of the GDP.

A closer look at the figures for 2007 and prior years showed that remittances to:

* Jamaica rose from US$983 million in 2001
to almost US$1.5 billion
in 2004;

* Haiti skyrocketed from less than US$900 million in 2001 to just under US$1 billion in 2005, rising to last year's record level;

* Guyana's is considered a "crucial source of income";

* The Caribbean and Latin America region as a whole reached US$66.5 billion, about seven per cent more than in 2006;

* Mexico amounted to almost US$24 billion, and was virtually unchanged, rising barely by one per cent. Apparently Mexicans "appear to be less inclined to send money home, citing concerns about stricter enforcement
of immigration laws
and a slowing economy
in the United States",
the MIF reported;

* Brazil totalled
US$7 billion, a decline of four per cent. The reason: increasing opportunities at home and a strengthening local currency, the Real, has appreciated 14 per cent against the dollar over the past 12 months;

* The various countries pay for "basic expenses such as food, shelter, clothing and medicines but some of them are saved.