KINGSTON, Jamaica – Despite single digit increase in remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2007, inflows into Jamaica grew by 11.6% in the period.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Multi-Lateral Investment Fund estimates that more than US$66.5 billion were remitted to Latin American and the Caribbean last year, a 7% percent increase in 2006. Transfers to Jamaica however, grew US$1.79 billion to US$1.97 billion.
Remittances are transfers of money by foreign workers to the home countries. The sending of remittances is an old phenomenon, with Jamaica having “remittance men” two centuries ago. Back then they were Britons working in Jamaica and sending their remittances home to England. Two hundred years later, remittances now represent the largest source of foreign exchange income for Jamaica.
The main senders of remittances for this hemisphere are male, but the main recipients are women, according to Manuel Orozco, Senior Researcher at the Inter-American Dialogue, a United States based center for policy analysis on Western Hemisphere issues.
Remittances to Jamaica are mainly used for household expenses, followed by education and savings, according to survey findings released at the Canada-Caribbean Diasporas and Development Conference in Montreal, Canada, in May 2005. Remitters from the English-speaking Caribbean are mainly male, under the age of 35, from small households who send an average US$250 per transfer, the surveys showed.
On a per-capita basis, Jamaica’s remittance receipts are among the highest in the world, with the flows growing at an annual average rate of 16.0 per cent since financial year 2002/03,” Bank of Jamaica Governor Derick Latibeaudiere stated at a 2006 conference of Latin American finance ministers. “These flows are largely related to consumption expenditure and would therefore have helped to cushion the impact of the oil price increases on consumers.”
Emile Spence, General Manager at JN Money Services, noted that this growth in the remittance business globally is fueled by the needs of millions of immigrant workers around the world.
“A revolution has taken place in the remittance business over the last two decades,” Mr. Spence said, adding, “gone are the days when remitters trusted wads of cash to the vagaries of the postal system or waited until a friend was going home. Remittances are used primarily for family support, so the key was to find a mechanism for delivering small sums of money just when they were needed.”
The challenge was to develop a low-cost, accessible, and easy to use method for transferring funds and to keep pace with developments in financial technology. A special remittance business emerged specifically to serve that need.
“JN Money Transfer started in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1988 to serve the Jamaican Diaspora,” Mr. Spence said. “It now has its headquarters in Jamaica with a network of 30 outlets including 24 JN branches and 4 Money Shops as well and more than 160 agents serving the UK, the United States, Canada, the Cayman Islands as well as St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
This framework covers the main concentrations of Jamaicans abroad, making it easier for them to send funds home through its service, JN Money Transfer.
“Through improved technology we have seen where the methodology of delivery has evolved to greater meet the needs of senders and receivers,” Mr. Spence said, pointing out that the JN Money Transfer Card was one instance in technology providing added convenience for receivers.
The card allows customers to access their cash from more than 500 Multilink automated teller machines and over 13,000 point of sale merchants across the island.
“Thirty per cent percent of our customers use the card to receive money transfers,” Mr. Spence said. “That is a high take-up rate by global standards.”
