Migration Could Yield a "Triple Win" for Migrants and Sending and Receiving Countries in the CIS, says World Bank Report

BISHKEK, September 27, 2007 – Today, recent World Bank’s reports “Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union” and "Remittances in the CIS Countries: a Study of Selected Corridors"  were presented in the “Golden Dragon” Hotel.

To enrich the discussions were invited representatives of the academia and research institutes, international and national NGOs, private sector, government and city authorities, multilateral and bilateral organizations, and media agencies.

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Migration can benefit both sending and receiving countries and reduce poverty among migrants if migration and remittance sending policies are better coordinated between countries in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, according to two World Bank reports.

Migration within and from the transition economies has been large and will likely continue to increase as declining birthrates across Europe and Russia will lead to an increased demand for a young labor force from the CIS, according to Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.

It has been well publicized that migration to Western Europe has increased significantly over the past 15 years, with Western Europe receiving 42 percent of migrants from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as growing numbers of migrants from the former Soviet Union.

Russia attracts migrants from the rest of the former Soviet Union, primarily from the Caucasus and Central Asia, and large numbers of Central Asian workers from the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan migrate to resource-rich Kazakhstan.

Remittances are one consequence of migration that benefits both the migrants' families and their home countries as documented in the recently released working paper “Remittances in the CIS Countries: A Study of Selected Corridors.”  For many of emigration countries of Central Asia they are the largest source of outside income and have served as a cushion against the economic and political turbulence of the past 15 years. Recently released data indicate that remittances represent over 35 percent of GDP in Tajikistan and over 10 percent in the Kyrgyz Republic.  Remittances are also large in other parts of the CIS as Moldova’s remittances to GDP ratio is also over 35% while Armenia’s is over 15%.

To ensure that migration and remittances benefit both sending and receiving countries and the migrants themselves, countries could more closely coordinate their policies so that the supply of migrant labor can meet demand through legal channels that respect the rights of migrants and are politically and socially acceptable to migrant-receiving countries.

“Existing bilateral agreements can be improved to facilitate migration in the region by matching the supply of migrant labor with the demand through economic incentives,” explains Bryce Quillin, World Bank Economist and co-author of the reports.

In addition, policies could also improve the impact of migrants’ remittances.  Closer coordination among governments in the region could assist in the documenting of remittances levels.  In addition, policies could be utilized to reduce costs.  Improved efforts at enhancing the transparency of remittances transfer services costs and migrants’ financial literacy could enhance the returns to migration.  Surveys with migrants revealed that migrants pay, on average, seven percent of the value of the remittance to transfer it home. As Carlo Segni, co-author of the remittances report noted: “Remittances costs are regressive and hence disproportionately disadvantage the poor.”

Yet, if these costs can be reduced to zero percent, this represents, on average, a seven percent rise in the income of poor people.  “There are few development programs that can boast this sort of return” noted Quillin.

Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union” (full report)

Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union: main messages

Remittances in the CIS Countries: a Study of Selected Corridors" (full report)

Presentation: "Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union” by Bryce Quillin, World Bank Economist