The document contains a chapter of a World Bank report on remittances, its development impact as well as future prospects. It was published in 2005. The articles originated in 2003 during a conference organized by the Department for International Development, IMF, and World Bank, in London.

As globalization has led to ever higher levels of labour mobility, so the volume of funds remitted to their families by workers employed in countries far distant from their homes has increased by leaps and bounds. The total volume of such transfers currently amounts to over $100 billion per...