Do remittances supplement South Asian development?

Abstract

Remittance inflows have been recorded as the second major external source of finance after ODA and an important source of funds for growth in South Asian countries. This paper examines the interaction between remittances and development in South Asia. Most receiving countries have experienced a major increase in remittance inflows and increase in growth of their GDP. The migration-development nexus is drawn, however, generally on the contribution of migrants’ remittances to the GDP of receiving countries. While this contribution could no way be undermined, the calculation of this contribution is largely done by excluding some significant factors such as loan-with high interest; opportunity cost; remittances fee; risks and life lost. There are arguments that the entire amount of remittances channelled into South Asian countries does not go to development. Though there is huge potential to contribute to the development, South Asia did not fully benefit from migrant remittances. This is may be because of the fact that channelling remittances, uses of it and lack of financial sector development have thwarted the potential

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May 2017
Volume: 2, No: 1, pp. 31 – 45
ISSN: 2059-6588
e-ISSN: 2059-6596
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Copyright @ 2017 REMITTANCES REVIEW © Transnational Press London
Article history: Received 5 March 2017; accepted 3 April 2017
Do Remittances
Supplement South Asian
Development?
AKM Ahsan Ullah 
Abstract
Remittance inflows have been recorded as the second major external source
of finance after ODA and an important source of funds for growth in South
Asian countries. This review article examines the interaction between
remittances and development in South Asia. Most receiving countries have
experienced a major increase in remittance inflows and increase in growth of
their GDP. The migration-development nexus is drawn, however, generally on
the contribution of migrants’ remittances to the GDP of receiving countries.
While this contribution could no way be undermined, the calculation of this
contribution is largely done by excluding some significant factors such as loan
taken to finance migration; opportunity cost; remittances fee; risks and life
lost. There are arguments that the entire amount of remittances channeled
into South Asian countries does not go to development. Though there is huge
potential to contribute to the development, South Asia did not fully benefit
from migrant remittances. This may be because of the fact that channelling
remittances, uses of it and lack of financial sector development have
thwarted the potential.
Keywords: remittances; South Asia; migration; development.
JEL Classification: F22, F16, F24
Introduction
Until the 1990s, there were very few studies dealing with remittances
and development. Migration – remittance - development nexus did
not matter much in development discourse. This was possibly because
of the fact that remittances flows were insignificant compared to
overseas development assistance and export earnings (Hugo, 2003;
Acosta, Lartey & Mandelmanh, 2007). A few studies were conducted
on the causal relationship between remittances and development
 Ahsan Ullah, Associate Professor, Geography, Development and Environment,
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link,
Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam. E-mail: ahsan.ullah@ubd.edu.bn.

32 Do Remittances Supplement South Asian Development?
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(Stark, 1979; Stahl & Arnold, 1985; Greenwood & Hunt, 2003; Rahman
and Yong, 2015). The literature so far seem to be biased towards
praising the migration and remittances impact on development
despite some criticisms (Ullah, 2016; Nijkamp, 2002; Russel, 1992; Sirkeci
et al., 2012). For example, it is argued that migration and remittances
offer triple wins as migrants have higher wages, receiving countries fill
jobs, and sending countries receive remittances (Martin, 2016). This
implies that objective analyses of the impact of remittances on
development are needed.
This contribution of remittances towards the GDP of some countries
goes hand in hand with large overall flow of money transactions
globally. As the volume of international migration increased
exponentially over the recent decades so did the volume of
remittances. From 1970 to 2015, remittances increased by more than
500 per cent (Figure 1). The total remittances overtaken other
international flows of finances (Sirkeci et al., 2012:2; Ratha & Sirkeci,
2010:126). The phenomenal growth of migration has changed the
demography of the world. Migration has contributed to bringing a
balance in skills shortage and unemployment by adjusting the
demand and supply of labour force between and within countries.
The large amounts of remittances received has rejuvenated
economies in many countries around the world, especially in South
Asia. Globally, remittances have appeared a significant component
in the financial system. There is also evidence showing that many
countries are heavily dependent on remittances. For example, in
Tajikistan remittances form 41.7 per cent of the country's GDP (Zotova
& Cohen, 2016:7; Danzer & Ivanschenko, 2010) and small economies
receive vital cash inflows through remittances (e.g. Pacific island
nations: Chen & Jayaraman, 2016). Remittances received in India are
almost three times as large as the inward investments made by foreign
firms (Thorat & Jones, 2011; Gupta, 2010:214). Remittances formed
about a third of GDP (about 29 per cent in 2010) in the Kyrgyz Republic
(Akmoldoev & Budaichieva, 2012). The Republic of Moldova is one of
the countries with highest inflows of remittances as percentage of the
GDP (29.0 per cent). More than half of Tonga’s population lives
overseas and 28.7 per cent of its GDP is made up of remittances
(World Bank, 2015).
Though there are discrepancies in data estimates across various
sources, still the growth of remittances globally is astounding (Martin
& Sirkeci, 2017; Acosta et al., 2009). Global remittance flows to both
low-income and high-income countries, are estimated at $583 billion
in 2014, and rose to $586 billion in 2015 and could rise to $636 billion in
2017 (World Bank, 2015). The volume of remittance flows enthused

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policy makers, stakeholders and researchers. The ‘migration-
remittance-development nexus has excited policy makers and
researchers alike who regard migration as a catalytic force that can
drive the development of the global South, especially South Asia
(Rosewarne, 2010). Altogether, remittances amount to about 2.2 per
cent of the GDP of all developing countries. However, due to transfers
made through informal channels and real assets, the volume of
actual transfers are expected to be twice as high (World Bank, 2014).
Figure 1: Remittances growth from 1970 to 2015.
Source: World Bank, 2016
Remittances flow grew as the size of migrant population grew to
about 250 million (or 3.3% of the world population) by 2015 (Sirkeci,
2016:2). It is increasingly more important to some recipient countries
and have intensified the debate about the theories that underlie
remittances flows, as well as their potential role in the economic
development of the recipient countries (Opong et al., 2015). Debates
also continue as to what entails remittances (Cohen & Sirkeci, 2012).
Until mid-1980s, cash transfers from migrant workers were considered
remittances. Recently, transfers of goods in kind other than cash have
become important part of remittances as well (Boccagni & Decimo,
2013; Levitt & Lamba-Nieves, 2013). This is important to discuss
because the impact varies depending on the type of remittances. For
example, remittances in cash has direct and fast impact while
remittances in kind may have indirect and slow impact. According to
the IMF (1999), remittances consist of goods or financial instruments
transferred by migrants to residents of the home countries.
Remittances, the more dominant concept in migration literature, is
used to describe tangible transfers from the migrant to their home
R² = 0.7964
-200
-100
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
1.929
10.203
37.066
35.452
67.87
102.416
121.312
252.455
411.912
553.701
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

34 Do Remittances Supplement South Asian Development?
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countries (Bilsborrow et al., 1997). In addition, as suggested by Ratha
(2013) remittances are associated with greater human development
outcomes across a number of areas such as health, education, and
gender equality. There are also positive spill-over effects, with some of
the expenditures and investments made by households (Ratha, 2013).
One of the most intuitive motivations for remitting is altruism which
means migrants send money to improve the conditions of those left
behind (Loschvmann & Siegel, 2015; Basu & Bang, 2013; Stark, 1995).
This concern makes sending remittances as an important element of
their lives. Under the altruistic model, migrants derive satisfaction from
the welfare of their relatives (Ratha, 2013). This suggests that migrants
willingly sacrifice their own interest for the sake of the welfare of their
relatives (Becker, 1981). Migrants living in difficult and precarious
conditions think about a better life for their left behind families and
friends.
There are abundance of literature highlighting positive impact of
remittances on development. This review article takes a position to
objectively investigate the interplay between remittances and
development in South Asia. I relied on a systematic review to write this
article. In order to do this, from a list of very relevant articles I narrowed
them down so that they help answer the question. The review was
designed to answer the question: “what is the effect of remittances
on development – macro and micro”. There are some empirical
studies conducted recently in different parts of the world. In reviewing
them, I noticed that most of them have tended to investigate the
impact of migration and remittances on asset holdings, consumption
expenditures, education and credit constraint status of households in
origin communities. This means researchers tried to look in the effect
of remittances on specific areas such as impact on nutrition, impact
on consumption pattern etc.
Interplay between remittance and development
Why do people remit? The economics of remittances highlights the
relationship between remittances and various indicators of socio-
economic development such as growth, saving, income inequality,
and social indicators. The discourse about ‘remittance-development’
explains why the nexus has been so widely accepted as a general
proposition (Taylor, 1999). The conventional economic theory explains
the interplay between migration and development. The neoclassical
economic theory explains the rationales why people migrate and
remit income to their home country (Abreu, 2012; de Haas, 2010;
Massey, 1993; Taylor, 1999).

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According to utility theory, rational people seek to maximize their
expected utility (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979) from the actions they
undertake. To that end, they first weigh each possible outcome that
is expected by the probability of occurrence and sum this up over all
the possible outcomes. Kahneman and Tversky developed prospect
theory based on experiments on how individuals actually make
choices in the face of risk (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979). This theory is
grounded in psychological basis for individual decision making under
risk and value. This is similar to value expectancy theory as under this
tenet decisions are made from among many alternatives. Here
comes the rationalization of choices (Ullah, 2010). A common
reference point in the framing of remittance decisions is the social
condition that they have left behind (Opong et al., 2015).
In line with Wallerstein’s world systems theory, the labour market is
linked with the structure of the world market (Greig, Hulme & Turner,
2007). The implication is that migration becomes, “a natural
outgrowth of disruptions and dislocations that inevitably occur in the
process of capitalist development” (De Haas, 2008:445). De Haas
goes onto argue that as capitalism expands, it penetrates poorer
countries economically which creates a mobile population. These
populations become potential international migrants, a direct result
of capitalist market formation in the developing world (de Haas,
2007).
Remittance flows are unequally distributed in the world, with Asia
receiving a significant share. Asia received 40-46 per cent of the
annual remittance flows since 1996, followed by Latin America and
the Caribbean with 17-22 per cent, and Central and Eastern Europe
with 15 to 18 per cent (World Bank, 2015). This is not surprising, given
the fact that Asia is the most populous region in the world and also
has the most number of migrants and diaspora. South Asia received
about $120 billion in 2015 (Rahman, 2013). There are also overall
differences between countries in the South and the North, where the
latter sends more remittances internationally (Pugliese et al.,
2016:115).
The interplay between remittances and development has been
widely researched and written about. Some studies suggest that
neither Africa nor Asia proved to have been impacted by remittances
at least at the micro level while some other studies argue that
remittances brought economic empowerment to many families –
enhanced purchasing power, enabled many families to send their
children to school (Anyanwu, 2011). At the macroeconomic level,
remittances as a source of foreign exchange has gained importance,

36 Do Remittances Supplement South Asian Development?
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but they have also grown in importance relative to the size of the
economy (UNDP, 2011).
Development is a complicated, and vary across regions and
countries. Therefore, investigating the link between remittance and
development is not an easy task. It is important to see what variables
of development has more impact of remittances than the other.
Remittances grew faster in Asia and the Pacific between 1995 and
2010 followed by Africa. Estimates for that period showed an increase
of 763 per cent was to be seen in remittances to Asia Pacific region,
from $21 billion in 1995 to $177 billion in 2010 (UNDP, 2011).
Development in South Asia and remittances
The level of impact of remittances on development varies across
regions. People’s livelihood strategies and ways of coping with
economic, political, environmental change depend upon broad
factors, including location, relative wealth, security regimes, kinship
structure and other informal institutions, the nature of local
governance and social network, access to land, food, roads, markets,
water and other resources.
Most receiving countries have experienced significant increases in
remittance inflows and in their GDPs (Meyer & Shera, 2016). Also in
most South Asian countries, migration and remittances increased
significantly since the late 1970s (Swatee, 2009; Ullah, 2010; World
Bank, 2016). Migrant remittances work are the driving force behind
the economies of many South Asian countries. None of the seven
South Asian countries fall under the category of high income
countries. Most of the countries have been facing political instability
and violence for long time. Economic growth and political stability are
deeply interconnected. Natural disasters have routinely been hurting
South Asian economies. Religious and ethnic violence and fragile
governance systems as well have been thwarting growth. NGO
interventions, government initiatives, ODA and trade seem to have
been performing far below expectations. Development indicators are
not showing good performance. Disparities are widening day by day
and nearly half of the total population is living below the poverty line.
Under these circumstances, remittances obviously are an important
source of income for South Asia. The following figure (2) shows the
GDP growth and table 1 shows the size of economy for individual
country and contribution of remittances to GDP.
Some empirical studies have been conducted on income distribution
effects of remittances. Most of these studies applied the Gini index to
measure the parity or disparity. These studies found that remittances
had an equalizing effect on income distribution which means

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remittances play a role in narrowing income disparity (Ahlburg, 996;
Taylor & Wyatt, 1996; Taylor, 999). Some studies, however, confirm that
remittances created and continue to create inequality (Stark, Taylor
& Yitzhaki, 1986; Anyanwu, 2011; Garip, 2010). A strong perception
about migrant and non-migrant family differences exists in rural areas
in South Asia. Migrant families enjoy higher status (economic, social)
than non-migrants families.
Figure 2: South Asia: real GDP growth
Source: World Bank, 2016.
Table 1. Contribution of remittances to South Asian GDP, 2014
GDP (US$)
Remittances
US$
% of remittances
contribution to GDP
Bangladesh
202 Billion
15.3 Billion
7.60
Nepal
21 Billion
7 Billion
33.0
Bhutan
1.99 Billion
12 Million
0.6
Sri Lanka
82 Billion
6.8 Billion
8.29
Maldives
2.5 Billion
3 Million
0.12
India
2.1 Trillion
69 Billion
3.40
Pakistan
271 Billion
19 Billion
7.01
Source: World Bank, 2015
Note: Data may vary from other sources. This is a calculated estimate
from varied sources of the World Bank and the Central Banks of the
respective country.
In order to understand the impact of remittances on development,
one should pay attention to types of remittances and their impacts
on different indicators of development in South Asian context.

38 Do Remittances Supplement South Asian Development?
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Rahman and Hossain (2015) in reference to Goldring (2004)
elaborated two broad classifications of remittances which are family
and collective remittances. Family remittances refer to remittance
transfers that are sent in cash or kind from individual migrant workers
to their families back home. Collective remittances refer to money
collected by a group that is used for the benefit of the group or a
particular community with which it is affiliated in the country of origin
(Rahman and Hossain, 2015). This category may imply that family
remittances are related to micro level development and the later to
macro level. Some other previous studies have applied two
approaches: first, remittance as ‘exogenous transfer’ (Stark, 1991;
Stark, Taylor and Yitzhaki, 1986) and second, remittance as ‘potential
substitute’ for household earnings (Zhu & Luo, 2010) to assess the
impact of remittance on development indicators and income
distribution. The advantage of the latter approach is that it allows
correlation between remittance income and household activities.
Development is often considered as a measurement of economic,
social, cultural or technological conditions in one country relative to
other countries. Human development (i.e. access to wealth, jobs,
education, nutrition, health, leisure and safety - as well as political and
cultural freedoms) and economic development (i.e. country’s
wealth) are important aspects in measuring development (Illich, 2010;
Esteva, 2010; Lummis, 2010; Berthoud, 2010).
1
Role of remittances in
development has been discussed extensively in the relevant
literature.
Development areas and contributors are shown in figure 3.
Unemployment rate, per cent of population living below the poverty
line, access to health and education, safety, human rights, income
disparity, freedom, sustainability, conservation, and governance
system are important indicators of development. These indicators are
also reflected in countries’ human development index scores.
Inward flows of remittances may boost national income, but GDP
measures the output of a country. The effect of remittances on GDP
growth, therefore, depends upon how the money is spent by the
recipients.
There is empirical evidence showing that remittances contribute to
economic growth, through their impact on consumption, savings, or
investment. Not all remittances received by South Asian countries are
used for development. For example, on average, only 10 per cent of
1
Amartya Sen’s (1999) and Nussbaum’s (1999) work can also be used to frame this with
reference to freedoms and capacities.

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remittances is spent on education while majority portion (about 60 per
cent) is spent on consumption. A number of researchers argued that
migrant remittances impact positively on the balance of payments in
many developing countries as well as enhancing economic growth,
via their direct and indirect implications for savings and investment in
human and physical capital (Lucas, 2004; Glytsos, 2002; Adams &
Page, 2005; World Bank, 2008).
Figure 3: Major contributors in development in South Asia
Development areas:
Contributors: Employment
Government Poverty
ODA Health
NGOs Education
Trade/export Safety
Remittances Housing
Good governance
Source: Ullah & Routray, 2003; Rahman et al., 2012
Table 2. Use of remittances in South Asia
% of remittances spent
Education
10
House renovation
22
Consumption
40
Business
16
Buying land
6
Repayment of loan
10
Source: Calculated from Ullah, 2010; Mamun and Hiranya, 2010.
Has migration made development inevitable or the other way
around? Migration scholars and stakeholder seem to overemphasise
the necessity of migration for development. The hypothesis of
migration-development nexus is based generally on the contribution
of migrants’ remittances to the gross domestic products (GDP) of
receiving countries. While such a contribution exists, there are also
significant costs and risks involved in international migration such as
loans with high interest; opportunity costs; remittances fees; and lives
put at risk crossing borders.

40 Do Remittances Supplement South Asian Development?
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Figure 4. Migration – remittances dynamics
Overlooked:
Psychological cost
Opportunity cost
Migration cost
Brain drain
Risk (heath, life)
Loan (high interest)
Remittance cost
Separation
Divorce
Safety
Housing
Good governance
Migration
Remittances
Despite direct and indirect effects of migration on development,
there is also evidence that development may make migration more
likely.
2
My argument, of course, does not essentially refuse this long-
standing hypothesis of migration and development nexus. However,
in order to assess the impact of migration on development, research
needs to consider important features of contemporary human
mobility such as costs of and risks taken for migration. Potential
migrants often obtain finances from various and multiple sources (e.g.
relatives, friends, banks, traditional money lenders [often on very high
interest rates], NGOs, or by selling properties they own) for financing
their moves. This may even make their migration a worthless venture
because in some cases, migrants work years to repay these loans. The
psychological costs migrants shoulder (as well as their family members
left behind) are not possible to measure quantitatively and
accurately. For example, what would be the cost of being separated
from the parents or children or spouse? Social costs such as the cost
of parental care are also difficult to measure and take into account
while estimating the benefits of migration or remittances. At the same
time, had these migrants stayed in their countries of origin, they would
have earned ‘something’— i.e. opportunity costs. In considering the
benefits (and costs) of remittances, these factors are often
overlooked.
Conclusions
Despite a shift and increasing diversity recently (Martin & Sirkeci, 2017:
314), because migrant sending countries have been historically from
the developing world, studies on the impact of remittances on
2
For a good example, see Turkish case where mid-level development increases
migration propensity: Sirkeci, Cohen, Yazgan (2012).

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development also focus on the development in these countries. The
direction of the impact is what needs to be questioned. The role of
remittances in development is aptly explained by Skeldon (2003) who
argues that migration can both cause and be caused by poverty.
The growing volume of remittances increases the attention among
policy makers and researchers. While the impact of remittances on
development is increasingly of interest to policy makers and
researchers, assessment of the impact is notoriously difficult. This is
primarily because isolating remittances from so many other factors
moderating development is difficult. In South Asia, remittances
alleviate current account deficits, stabilize exchange rates and
reduce poverty. This suggests that remittances are a significant factor
at macro level for South Asian economies. However, at micro level,
development effect of migration is not that obvious. It is true that
though remittances alone constitute one-third of net total private
capital flows into the developing countries, there is need for better
understanding of the ways in which remittances are used in more
productive schemes than routine consumption as common in many
cases. Some scholars argue that consumption is a waste while some
other counter argue that consumption contributes to human
resources while also indirectly contributing to the economy. However,
there are also studies showing unwanted effects such as the Dutch
disease (Acosta, Lartey & Mandelmans, 2009). Assuming that
remittances contribute to the development efforts but cannot lift
people out of poverty alone, there is need for greater understanding.
Nevertheless, there are other impacts too. For instance, the impact of
migration on separation of couples and its impact on the well-being
of children left behind warrants more research and better
understanding. While long term migration of one of the parents may
lead to permanent disruption of family unity and potentially result in
having dual relationships (one in the country of origin and one in the
country of destination) would cause reduction in the ineti and
frequency of remittances sent home. The dynamics in this family
context needs further elaboration.
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