THE INTER-AMERICAN Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) will hold a round table meeting on Tuesday, September 17 in Kingston, on the impact of remittances in the Caribbean.
The conference, which will be held at Kingston's Hilton Hotel, will bring together leaders of the public and private sectors to discuss issues affecting remittances, a key source of capital for several Latin American and Caribbean countries.
According to MIF estimates, these countries received nearly $23 billion in remittances in 2001, originating mostly in the United States, Western Europe and Japan. By volume, remittances already exceed foreign aid to Latin America and the Caribbean. Jamaica received some $950 million from remittances last year.
Jamaica's Finance Minister, the Hon. Omar Davies, is scheduled to open the meeting. Bank of Jamaica Deputy Governor Colin Bullock is also due to address participants. MIF Manager Don Terry will deliver the conference's closing remarks.
During the round table, government officials, financial sector regulators, bankers, economists and leaders of migrant communities will discuss issues such as the reduction of the costs of remittances, the application of new technologies to expand access to financial services and the possibilities of devoting some remittance resources to economic and social development projects.
MIF supports a variety of programmes that seek to cut the cost of remittances by stimulating competition and enabling their transmission through financial institutions that work with low-income clients, such as credit unions and microfinance institutions.
It has also conducted studies comparing the cost of remittances among different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and analysing how migrants send money back to their homelands. Earlier this year it organised similar conferences in San Salvador, Santo Domingo and Washington D.C.
The Multilateral Investment Fund, an autonomous fund administered by the IDB, makes grants and investments to promote private sector development and improve the climate for business in Latin America and the Caribbean.
