RemittancesGateway.org

That`s according to the latest report from the Inter- American Development Bank`s Multilateral Investment Fund. The report issued Thursday said the stabilization is expected after a 15 percent drop in 2009. The FOMIN`s report noted that remittance flows to Latin America and the Caribbean, taken as a whole, started to stabilize in the last quarter of 2009. Coupled with data on employment in traditional sending countries, this suggests a bottoming-out of the decline.

`In the short term, significant recovery in the volume of remittance flows is unlikely, largely due to the uncertain outlook for economic
growth in traditional remittances sending countries,` the report said. `But the signs of stability of the last months could provide a basis for
an estimate of stabilized remittance levels, or event the beginning of a new period of single-digit growth in the near future.`
Last year marked the first time in which the volume of remittances was lower than the amount sent the year before since the FOMIN
started tracking these flows in the year 2000. Remittances to the Caribbean and Latin American region fell to $58.8 billion last year, below the level reached in 2006.

Money sent back by migrants still continue to be an indispensable lifeline for millions of families in Latin America and the Caribbean,
helping them cover basic expenses such as food, shelter, clothing and healthcare, the report found.
In countries like Haiti, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador these flows still represent more than 10 percent of their gross
domestic product.