Latin American, Caribbean migrants sending less money home

[L. Coyote]

Latin American, Caribbean migrants sending less money home
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/64085.html

WASHINGTON — The slumping global economy is slowing the amount of money that migrant workers send home to their families in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a new survey that suggests a troubling trend in a crucial source of revenue for many nations in the region.

The Inter-American Development Bank projects that after nearly a decade of growth, remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean are likely to decline this year. Remittances to the region in the fourth quarter of last year dropped to $17 billion, 2 percent less than in the same period in 2007. Early reports for January suggest a drop as steep as 13 percent.

"This is bad news for millions of people in our region who depend on these flows to make ends meet," bank President Luis Alberto Moreno said.

Moreno said it was too early to predict how much remittances might drop off this year, noting that the length and severity of the economic crisis in major "source countries" — including the United States, Spain and Japan — would drive the decline. Also in play, he said, is "the ability of migrant workers to weather this storm."

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[Deja Q]

1. Uh-oh. US consumers will be blamed for that development too, no doubt.