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STORY: IFAD / ASIA-REMITTANCES REPORT ADVANCER
TRT: 2.30
SOURCE: IFAD
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: RECENT / FILE
FILE - SEPTEMBER 2012, ROME, ITALY
1. Wide shot, Filipino migrants walking down street
FILE - APRIL, 2013, MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES
2. Wide shot, street with traffic
3. Med shot, people outside slum
4. Wide shot, women sitting outside Western Union
FILE - JULY, 2012, KURUNEGALA, SRI LANKA
5. Close up, sign of HNB Remittance Counter
6. Wide shot, people waiting in line at bank remittance counter
7. Med shot, man filling in form at remittance counter
8. Close up, man’s hands holding money
9. Close up, money in counting machine
10. Med shot, bank teller holding money
FILE - APRIL, 2013, BULACAN, THE PHILIPPINES
11. Close up, cell phone, pushing “send GCash”
12. Close up, pink cell phone receiving message
13. Wide shot, Remedios Valdesco entering money outlet and approaching counter,
14. Close up, cell phone with money received and reference number
15. Zoom out, from Remedios hands holding money, to Remedios at counter
16. SOUNDBITE (Filipino) Remedios Valdesco, mother of overseas worker:
“I just have to show them my ID and they look at my cell phone to see if the reference number matches the number that they have and then they release the money. I immediately get the money; It's just fast.”
FILE - SEPTEMBER 2012, ROME, ITALY
17. Wide shot, Filipino migrant workers in financial literacy training
18. Close up, hand pointing in training manual
FILE - MABINI, JULY 2012, THE PHILIPPINES
19. Close up, hands putting eggs in tray
20. Med shot, man putting eggs into machine
21. Med shot, woman picking up tray of eggs to buy, camera move left to right
FILE - SEPTEMBER 2012, ROME, ITALY
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Flora Ventura, Filipino overseas worker:
“When we have our simple investments, it gives us more security of returning home because we won’t be a burden to our children and we have something to start with.”
FILE - JULY 2012, SAN PABLO, THE PHILIPPINES
23. Wide shot, Lily Bruhl looking at her fish farm
24. Close up, Lily Bruhl looking at her fish farm
25. Close up, fish in net at fish farm
26. Med shot, people buying fish at market
27. Close up, hand paying money for fish at market
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Lily Bruhl, wife of overseas worker:
"The money that my husband sends me is 22 000 and I gained 30 000 from the fish cages. I told myself: oh it's a lot of money. Maybe someday I can tell my husband you can come home.”
FILE - MANILA, APRIL, 2013, THE PHILIPPINES
29. Wide shot, people walking down waterfront
FILE - SAN PABLO, JULY 2012, THE PHILIPPINES
29. Med shot, tricycles on the road
30. Med shot, Lily Bruhl and her son laughing in tricycle
In 2012, Asian migrants working overseas sent home a record amount of cash to their families, approximately US$ 260 billion. Considering that those remittance flows to Asia surpass Official Development Assistance by five times, the potential of that money was enormous.
But according to a new report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank, high fees and limited financial services outside of urban areas are reducing the benefits of those remittances for millions of rural residents.
Migrants pay an average of 8.35 per cent to send money home to Asia, which means that less money is going to reducing poverty and boosting prosperity for their families.
The report, ‘Sending Money Home to Asia’ will be launched in Bangkok on Monday (20 May) and it looks at how to improve the market for remittances to Asia, which benefit more than 70 million families.
The report highlights the importance of including these families in the financial system and gives examples of the impact it can have on their lives.
For example, more than 10 million Filipinos working abroad send home US$ 20 billion a year, more than 10 per cent of the country’s GDP.
In the Philippines, three quarter of the population do not have bank accounts, but almost all of them have cell phones. Now people can receive their remittances instantly and cheaply on their mobile phones and collect the money at a nearby outlet.
Remedios Valdesco enjoys the benefits. She says, “I just have to show them my ID and they look at my cell phone to see if the reference number matches the number that they have and then they release the money. I immediately get the money. It's just fast.”
Migrant workers and their families are also taking financial literacy training to learn to save and invest their money. A group of Filipino workers living in Rome, like Flora Ventura, decided to invest in a chicken farm back home and they now receive a guaranteed 6 per cent return on their investment every year. Flora hopes that this will allow her to return home one day. She says: “When we have our simple investments, it gives us more security of returning home because we won’t be a burden to our children and we have something to start with.”
And back in the Philippines, Lily Bruhl attended the financial literacy training and decided to use her husband’s remittance money to start a fish farm. She says: "The money that my husband sends me is 22 000 and I gained 30 000 from the fish cages. I told myself: oh it's a lot of money. Maybe someday I can tell my husband you can come home.”
The launch of the report marks the start of the fourth Global Forum on Remittances in Bangkok. Convened by IFAD and the World Bank, the three days of panels, debates and roundtable discussions bring together policy makers and regulators. It is the biggest gathering of its kind to take place in Asia and an ideal forum for identifying new opportunities and finding solutions to remittance challenges.
