IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/3789.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Sri Lanka's migrant labor remittances : enhancing the quality and outreach of the rural remittance infrastructure

Author

Listed:
  • Lasagabaster, Esperanza
  • Maimbo, Samuel Munzele
  • Hulugalle, Sriyani

Abstract

Remittances-money sent home by immigrant workers abroad-are hugely beneficial to Sri Lanka. Migrants'remittances have grown dramatically in recent years and are now estimated at US$1.5 billion annually. This national phenomenon is consistent with remittance trends in neighboring countries where remittance flows are growing as rapidly. The trend is likely to continue as many workers continue to look abroad for the chance to make a better living. The economic policy implications of these trends are significant. The Sri Lankan Central Bank is now debating the following key issues: the developmental impact of remittances; the high transaction costs associated with remittances; and the level of transparency and accountability in the remittance industry, especially the informal remittance sector. This paper highlights the key policy issues associated with each of these aspects of remittances with the objective of improving the public and private infrastructure for current and future flows. Building on recent World Bank research on remittances that prominently features South Asia, it has been prepared in recognition of the development potential of these flows. It discusses some of the key issues relating to the remittance industry in Sri Lanka. This paper complements the existing literature on migrant labor remittances to Sri Lanka and extends that literature by providing specific policy-relevant guidance on short and long-term policies for enhance enhancing the quality and outreach of rural remittance infrastructure.

Suggested Citation

  • Lasagabaster, Esperanza & Maimbo, Samuel Munzele & Hulugalle, Sriyani, 2005. "Sri Lanka's migrant labor remittances : enhancing the quality and outreach of the rural remittance infrastructure," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3789, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3789
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2005/12/07/000016406_20051207105243/Rendered/PDF/wps3789.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Samuel Munzele Maimbo & Richard H. Jr. Adams & Reena Aggarwal & Nikos Passas, 2005. "Migrant Labor Remittances in South Asia," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7426.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Puja Guha, 2014. "Economics of Migration and Remittances: A Review Article," Working Papers id:5618, eSocialSciences.
    2. Sanjaya DeSilva, 2013. "Long-Term Benefits from Temporary Migration: Does the Gender of the Migrant Matter?," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_756, Levy Economics Institute.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing & Sur, Mona, 2007. "Sri Lanka's Rural Non-Farm Economy: Removing Constraints to Pro-Poor Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2056-2078, December.
    2. Mohammad Joarder & Uddin Saleh, 2010. "Estimating the economic model of Hundi using micro-level data," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 61-75, June.
    3. Adela Shera & Ardita Shehaj, 2014. "Economic crisis impact on Remittances and Migration level in Albania," Academicus International Scientific Journal, Entrepreneurship Training Center Albania, issue 10, pages 39-54, July.
    4. Zizi GOSCHIN & Bogdan ILEANU, 2013. "Remittances Sent To Eu New Member States: Do The Make A Difference For The Household Consumption?," Journal of Social and Economic Statistics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 2(2), pages 22-38, DECEMBER.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Banks&Banking Reform; Technology Industry; Gender and Development; Financial Intermediation; Economic Theory&Research;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3789. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.