After rough 2009, remittances on rise

LILLY ECHEVERRIA / MIAMI HERALD STAFF Latin American and Caribbean economies rebounding
BY MIMI WHITEFIELD and NADEGE CHARLES

Mirlande Rosilme of Miami sends money to family in Haiti 'all the time'
at Unitransfer.

mwhitefield@miamiherald.com
After the Jan 12 earthquake in Haiti, Pierre Lopez doubled the amount he sends to his family in remittances.
Lopez, 49, a part-time hotel cleaner who lost his wife and 19-year-old daughter in the catastrophe, scrapes by on $400 every two weeks. He used to send $150 to his parents monthly. Now it's $300.
Fueled by a desire to help relatives, remittances to Haiti are expected to increase this year.
But recently these money flows have gone through a rough patch. Remittances to Latin American and Caribbean nations sank 12 percent as the U.S. and global economies hit the skids last year.
The authors of a recent World Bank briefing paper say remittances began to bottom out during the last quarter of 2009 and such money transfers now appear to be on the rise to El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Jamaica.
As for Haiti, the briefing paper said, the post-earthquake decision to grant temporary protected status to 200,000 Haitians living in the United States without proper documents not only makes them eligible to work legally but could increase remittances by as much as $360 million this year.
Officially, about 1 million Haitians live abroad but the number could be far higher. The Haitian diaspora sent an estimated $1.32 billion in remittances to Haiti last year, down from $1.41 million recorded the previous year. In 2008, remittances accounted for a fifth of the Haitian economy.
After the January quake, lines at money transfer companies were long as Haitians rushed to help their devastated country. Jean-Marc Piquion, a vice president at Hollywood-based Unitransfer, a unit of Unibank, Haiti's largest commercial bank, said business has tapered off slightly.
``Of course we saw an increase immediately after the earthquake. he said. ``Family members were frantically trying to send cash.''
Although the company has seen an uptick of new customers sending money to Haiti, he said the average money transfer from Florida to Haiti right now is between $110 to $115, a slight decrease from last year.
Mexicans living abroad sent nearly $22 billion in remittances last year -- tops in Latin America -- but many who sent money home were involved in construction-related work or nonskilled labor where there have been heavy job losses during the recession. Last year remittances were down 15.7 percent from 2008.
And the high unemployment rate in the United States continues to have an adverse effect on Mexican remittances. During the first half of this year, the Bank of Mexico says remittances were down just over 4 percent.
Still, the authors of the World Bank briefing paper said that remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean didn't fall as sharply as private capital flows to the region as investors pulled out of emerging markets.
Overall, World Bank researchers said remittances to the region are expected to increase this year by an estimated 5.7 percent and also grow in 2011 but probably won't reach the levels of 2008.
Even though money remains tight and job prospects uncertain for many who send money home, Lopez said he's willing to sacrifice.
``Sometime I don't eat. If I have $100, I know $70 is automatically for Haiti,'' he said.
Lopez said the money is used to care for his elderly parents who fled Port-au-Prince after the quake and now live with extended family in northwest Haiti.
``When I was in school in Haiti my mother sold bottles of water in a bucket she carried on her head to pay for my education. It's my turn to take care of her,'' he said.
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