Publication: The Qatar-Nepal Remittance Corridor : Enhancing the Impact and Integrity of Remittance Flows by Reducing Inefficiencies in the Migration Process
Loading...
Date
2011
ISSN
Published
2011
Author(s)
Endo, Isaku
Editor(s)
Abstract
Remittance inflows play a crucial role in Nepal's economy. Officially recorded remittances already amounted to almost a quarter of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009. The 2008-09 global economic crises resulted in slower growth of remittance inflows in Nepal, leading directly to lower disposable income. This is a telling reminder of the importance of promoting a supportive environment for remittances. Nepali migration continues to increase as workers seek greater economic opportunities abroad. In this quest, Qatar is one of the important migration destinations for Nepali migrant workers. This report analyzes the migration and remittance transfer processes in the Qatar-Nepal Corridor in order to provide policy recommendations that would help improve the scale and impact of remittance transfers from Qatar to Nepal, and enhance the efficiency and integrity of migration and remittances in the corridor. The report identifies challenges in the migration process from Nepal to Qatar (related to high migration costs and their financing) and constraints in the remittance transfer process from Qatar to Nepal, which together limit the development and poverty reduction impact of remittance flows to Nepali households. As this report highlights, the Qatar-Nepal remittance corridor has several distinctive features. First, the majority of remittance flows from Qatar to Nepal are being transferred through officially regulated remittance channels. One of the reasons for this is actually the second feature of this corridor, namely, the officially managed migration process from Nepal to Qatar (as a result of which the majority of migrants are documented workers). The third feature is the contrast between the high competition and low prices of remittance services in this corridor on the one hand, and the contradictory rules and high costs incurred during the migration process on the other hand. Finally, as a by-product of the complex migration process which involves multiple players, financial transfers through informal mechanisms take place from Nepal to Qatar in order to pay the commissions of manpower agencies and middlemen.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Endo, Isaku; Afram, Gabi G.. 2011. The Qatar-Nepal Remittance Corridor : Enhancing the Impact and Integrity of Remittance Flows by Reducing Inefficiencies in the Migration Process. World Bank Study. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2330 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication The U.S.-Guatemala Remittance Corridor : Understanding Better the Drivers of Remittances Intermediation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006)This study reports on recent development and future potential for U.S.-based Guatemalan workers cross-border retail transfers to be more formal, cheaper, and disposed to the cross-sale of financial products and services. It also presents the key features of remittances senders, recipients, instruments, and intermediaries involved. The paper focuses on three areas: (a) the main characteristics of the Guatemalan migrants in the United States and the key drivers behind their decision to remit money and to choose an intermediary; (b) financial infrastructure supporting U.S.-Guatemala remittances processing, especially the role of technology, payment systems and innovations going forward, as avenues to help lower transaction costs, among others; and (c) the landscape of workers remittances distribution in Guatemala, examines the characteristics of recipients and the evidence of remittances impact, and analyzes the indications of potential for cross-sale of financial services to recipients.Publication The Canada-Caribbean Remittance Corridor : Fostering Formal Remittances to Haiti and Jamaica through Effective Regulation(World Bank, 2009-04-01)The World Bank has been at the global forefront in research on remittances. Studying over twelve bilateral remittance corridors thus far, the financial market integrity unit has focused its research on remittance market integrity issues and the specific incentives influencing the choices of channels to send money home. Initially conducted at the request of Department of Finance, Canada, this corridor, Canada-Caribbean, has clearly distinguished itself from other bilateral remittance corridors studied in the past. At the originating end of this corridor, these distinguishing features include a country that, throughout its history, has made immigration one of its primary social and economic building blocks. This corridor focuses on Jamaica and Haiti, two of the Caribbean's primary labor exporters and also the countries with the two largest Caribbean communities in Canada. Given the importance of remittances in the region, there is a need for effective, yet proportionate regulation. Risk must be effectively mitigated along potentially vulnerable routes, while innovation, competition and transparency in the remittance markets must be encouraged. Regulatory frameworks that reflect local conditions and are proportionate to the risks involved will facilitate the provision of services of the highest quality to migrants and their families. It is hoped that research provided from this study will generate policy dialogues among all relevant stakeholders, and assist national authorities in their efforts to effectively regulate and supervise the remittance markets. National authorities should continue to encourage the use of formal transfers and develop more reliable and competitive remittance channels. These channels must efficiently meet the varied needs of Caribbean migrant workers and their families in the safest and most secure environment possible.Publication The UK-Nigeria Remittance Corridor : Challenges of Embracing Formal Transfer Systems in a Dual Financial Environment(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007)The UK-Nigeria remittance corridor has an equal dominance of formal and informal remittance intermediaries. Although several formal financial institutions for transferring money exist in the UK, many people choose to send money informally. More collaboration between the UK and Nigeria is necessary to develop the remittance market, to encourage the use of formal channels, and to enhance the development potential. Among its benefits, the remittance country partnership (RCP) between UK and Nigeria aims to reduce the cost of remittance transfers. The Nigerian government is engaging its diaspora to help spur economic growth. This report recommends that each government focus on improving data collection at its end of the corridor and do more research to provide its policymakers and its private sector with accurate information.Publication The Germany-Serbia Remittance Corridor : Challenges of Establishing a Formal Money Transfer System(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006)This report provides an overview of remittance flows from Germany to Serbia and analyzes why a large part of remittance transfers take place outside financial institutions. The study presents a series of recommendations on needed policy changes to facilitate the transfer of remittance flows from the informal channels to licensed or registered financial institutions, thereby maximizing the developmental impact of remittances, reducing remittances fees, improving data collection practices, and strengthening the regulation and supervision of the money transfer industry.Publication Outlook for Remittance Flows 2011-12 : Recovery After the Crisis, But Risks Lie Ahead(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-11)Officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries are estimated to increase by 6 percent to $325 billion in 2010. This marks a healthy recovery from a 5.5 percent decline registered in 2009. Remittance flows are expected to increase by 6.2 percent in 2011 and 8.1 percent in 2012, to reach $374 billion by 2012. This outlook for remittance flows, however, is subject to the risks of a fragile global economic recovery, volatile currency and commodity price movements, and rising anti-immigration sentiment in many destination countries. From a medium-term view, three major trends are apparent: (a) a high level of unemployment in the migrant-receiving countries has prompted restrictions on new immigration; (b) the application of mobile phone technology for domestic remittances has failed to spread to cross-border remittances; and (c) developing countries are becoming more aware of the potential for leveraging remittances and diaspora wealth for raising development finance.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Asset Recovery Handbook : A Guide for Practitioners(World Bank, 2011-01-18)The handbook is organized into nine chapters, a glossary, and ten appendixes of additional resources. Chapter one provides a general overview of the asset recovery process and legal avenues for recovery, along with practical case examples. Chapter two presents a host of strategic considerations for developing and managing an asset recovery case, including gathering initial sources of facts and information, assembling a team, and establishing a relationship with foreign counterparts for international cooperation. Chapter three introduces the techniques that practitioners may use to trace assets and analyze financial data, as well as to secure reliable and admissible evidence for asset confiscation cases. The provisional measures and planning necessary to secure the assets prior to confiscation are discussed in chapter four; and chapter five introduces some of the management issues that practitioners will need to consider during this phase. Confiscation systems are the focus of chapter six, including a review of the different systems and how they operate and the procedural enhancements that are available in some jurisdictions. On the issue of international cooperation, chapter seven reviews the various methods available, including informal assistance and mutual legal assistance requests; and guides practitioners through the entire process. Finally, chapters eight and nine discuss two additional avenues for asset recovery-respectively, civil proceedings and domestic confiscation proceedings undertaken in foreign jurisdictions.Publication Research on Tobacco in China : An Annotated Bibilography of Research on Tobacco Use, Health Effects, Policies, Farming and Industry(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-07)This report is a compilation of over 600 references and abstracts found in a search of many data bases, using these keywords: tobacco, smoking, cessation, quitting, cigarettes, tobacco production and China. It covers publications from 1990 to 2003. Studies are organized by broad subject matter, and within each sub-topic, are arranged by the last name of the first-listed author, and then for studies by the same author, chronologically with the most recent studies listed first. The studies report on tobacco use and prevalence, tobacco-related mortality and morbidity, policies relating to tobacco, tobacco farming and the tobacco industry.Publication The U.S.–Mexico Remittance Corridor : Lessons on Shifting from Informal to Formal Transfer Systems(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005)Examining the experience of the U.S.-Mexico remittances corridor over the last eight years, this title derives specific lessons that could be applicable to other remittance corridors when shifting from informal to formal systems. Lessons focuses on a few selected aspects of the remittance experience and breaks down the remittance process into three stages: the First Mile, when decisions are in the hands of the remittance sender; the Intermediary Stage, comprising the systems that facilitate the cross-border transfer of funds, and; the Last Mile, where the funds reach the hands of the remittance recipient. By analyzing the objectives, obstacles, incentives, and changes occurring at each of these stages in the U.S.-Mexico corridor, lessons are drawn for other remittance sending and receiving countries that seek to encourage formalization of the flows.Publication Illicit Financial Flows and Governance(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-01)After decades of billion dollar scandals around long-serving dictators removing vast fortunes from their impoverished nations, the broader phenomenon of which this is part has acquired a label: Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs). The term encompasses the international transfer of moneys generated by bribery, tax evasion and illegal markets. IFFs have been the object of much attention from high level bodies such as the G20 and G7. The purpose of this Note is to develop a better understanding of the drivers of the phenomenon itself in terms of governance and also of the governance challenge in trying to reduce IFFs. It deals with the distribution of power as a factor in both aspects. The discussion does not examine the drivers or consequences of the activities that generate most IFFs, such as bribery and tax evasion. Thus a statement that IFFs from criminal earnings does not affect development institutions is not a statement about the adverse effects of a large criminal sector, which may indeed have very serious economic and development consequences. The paper deals only briefly with the contested issues of definition and measurement. This paper has been relentlessly speculative that reflects the state of understanding of the IFF phenomenon. For reform efforts, a good understanding of the governance issues and the obstacles to aligning the interests and capacities of the many participants is crucial.Publication Ill-gotten Money and the Economy : Experiences from Malawi and Namibia(World Bank, 2011-10-11)Over the last 20 years, the international community has significantly stepped up its efforts to prevent, detect, and deter money flows related to criminal activities and terrorism financing. Since the early 2000s, this drive has extended to developing countries, with most of them introducing anti-money laundering (AML) policies. The primary driver behind this is law enforcement; these policies are aimed at detecting and tracing flows of ill-gotten money, which would enable authorities to fight and prevent crime and recover assets of crime, corruption, and tax evasion. The core objective of this study is to introduce economics into the international debate about anti-money laundering, and to introduce the idea of the usefulness and effectiveness of such policies. The study focuses on two developing countries: Malawi, a low-income country, and Namibia, a middle-income country. The findings presented in this study are based on an extensive literature research; World Bank discussions with numerous public- and private-sector officials and representatives of the Governments of Malawi and Namibia during a Bank mission in November 2010; and workshops conducted in both countries in February 2011 to obtain feedback on the preliminary findings. In conducting this study, the team adopted an interactive approach. This was critical because mobilization of local expertise is essential not only in establishing a complete picture of current and future AML challenges, but also in designing policy considerations that subsequently are widely supported.