Migration’s remittances important driver for Albania’s growth, says World Bank report

BRUSSELS, Jan. 16 – A World Bank report published earlier this week showed that Albania is one of the largest emigration countries in the world and its remittances offered a significant part of the country’s growth. Significant remittances to Albania have helped reduce household poverty and provide essential foreign exchange, according to the report. Official remittances constitute over 15 percent of GDP and actual remittances are expected to be much larger, the report said. The report said that migration within and from the transition economies of Europe and Central Asia has been large and will likely continue to increase as declining birthrates across much of the region will lead to an increased demand for a young labor force, according to Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.
Migration to Western Europe has increased significantly over the past 15 years, with Western Europe receiving 42 percent of migrants from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as growing numbers of migrants from the former Soviet Union. What is less known is that on a global level, Germany and France are the only Western European nations in the top-ten migrant-receiving countries. Russia is number two, and Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Poland are also in the top ten.
For many of the poorest countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia remittances are the largest source of outside income and have served as a cushion against the economic and political turbulence of the past 15 years. Remittances represent over 20 percent of GDP in Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina and over 10 percent in Albania, Armenia, and Tajikistan.
“Existing bilateral agreements can be improved to facilitate migration in the region by matching the supply of migrant labor with the demand through economic incentives,” explains Bryce Quillin, World Bank Economist and co-author of the report. “New approaches, such as circular migration, and the use of economic incentives could strengthen bilateral agreements,” says Willem van Eeghen, World Bank Lead Economist. “If these approaches work, they will yield a ‘Triple Win’ for migrants and sending and receiving countries.”