ROME, CMC – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) says that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is both a challenge and an opportunity to fix the remittance systems in the Caribbean and other places.
“With a Euro here and a dollar there, remittances, the money that migrant workers send home to their families, have been adding up in a big way to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals and lift tens of millions out of extreme poverty,” said IFAD.
IFAD President, Gilbert F. Houngbo, said that “regardless of whether nor not the (post- coronavirus) recovery will be faster than expected, the global pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of the global remittance systems.”
But with the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank projects that cross-border remittances will fall by 20 percent, or US$110 billion, to US$445 billion, potentially pulling tens of millions below the poverty line while undermining progress towards fulfilling the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In response, the UN said Switzerland and the United Kingdom, joined by several other member states, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and other UN agencies and industry groups, issued a global “call to action” on May 22 to ensure that migrant workers and diaspora communities can keep sending back money in ways that can also improve the remittance system.
