PRESS RELEASE
Speech held by the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr. Ardian Fullani at the High Level Conference organised by EBRD and Sponsored by Switzerland, ''Key Policy Issues for Remittances in Trasition Economies: A view point from a recipient country''

Remittances these days can easily classify as one of the most important sources of finance assisting the convergence of developing nations, to the point of overshadowing conventional funding like bank credit. The flow of remittances worldwide goes beyond 100 billion USD per year, with developing countries being recipients of more than 60 percent of this considerable amount. Remittances' estimations in these countries often exceed trade inflows, or foreign financing and investment. Therefore, they have become an important device for channelling funds and resources from developed countries toward countries in need. Moreover, remittances, like foreign direct investments (FDI), are regarded as very stable and safe capital flow, helping developing countries to achieve sustainable high growth rates.

In recent years, we have seen a growing awareness about emigrants' remittances as an important financial source for development. This issue was included in the G8 meeting agenda of 2004 and in the spring meeting of IMF and World Bank earlier this year, emphasizing the growing significance of migration, and with it, of migrants' remittances, calling for intensification of efforts to improve and identify their causes, as well as to establish an environment that could enhance the impact of remittances on development process.

Let me briefly give you our (Albanian) experience with remittances and some suggestions to improve their ingress and effectiveness in the economy.

During 90s, Albania experienced a massive migration movement abroad, which soon became a crucial financial source for the new market economy. According to some studies (Barjaba, 2004; INSTAT, 2002; Kule et al, 2002, 2002), since 1990, nearly 800,000 Albanians may have left the country either permanently or temporarily. Some more recent estimations show that the number of Albanians living abroad may have reached 1 million. This is a considerable figure for a small country like Albania with just 3 million of inhabitants. As a result, exodus phenomenon has attracted a great deal of attention in political and economic circles.

Remittances role in the economy has grown considerably over time. We can appreciate their weight easier if we put them against some main economic indicators. However, before doing that I want to say a few words on data reliability of remittances. It is very difficult to carry out an accurate estimation of remittances in Albania bearing in mind that a large share does not go through formal (official) transferring channels, therefore escaping the official registration of capital flows. The Bank of Albania traces only that part of remittances that goes through the official network, which includes banks and money transfer agencies. Remittances sent unofficially such as, cash brought by emigrants or their friends during their visits to Albania, need to be estimated.

Transition experience so far has shown that high trade deficits were not just financed through official capital flows, which undoubtedly have played a key role, but also through remittances that have increased financing opportunities within current account. During the period 1994 - 2004, out of 6.3 billion USD current transfers that entered the country, 5.8 billion is estimated to be contribution of Albanian emigrants.

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