Crisis hits 20% of beneficiaries of foreign payments: study

20% of the Moldovan beneficiaries of remittances in 2008 do not receive money from abroad, shows a research on the impact of the economic crisis over migration and remittances. The study is based on a recent poll implemented in Moldova by CBS-AXA, Info-Prim Neo reports. The study was supported by the European Commission through a joint project of the International Organization for Migration and the International Labor Organization. 45% of the interviewed reported that they receive less, or much less, now than last year. Contrary to many assumptions and concerns, there is no evidence of a mass return of migrants due to the economic crisis. However, the number of those who returned temporarily in 2008 has doubled (from 4.9% to 9.1%) and 8% declared that they had returned “for good”. What is particularly interesting is that the main reason mentioned for returning is family, with job-loss and lack of financially interesting opportunities only as secondary reasons. This indicates that the economic down-turn abroad coupled by last year’s strong salary growth has reduced the gap between Moldovan salaries and those earned by Moldovans abroad, making labor migration for the moment less attractive than it was before. The error margin is 2.18%. According to the World Bank, Moldova is among the countries with the highest volume of remittances measured against the GDP. In 2008, Moldovan migrants sent back 1.66 billion USD through official channels only – mostly from Russia and Italy – amounting to more than 30% when compared with GDP. A recent IOM research confirmed that over 35% of the Moldovan population lives in households that receive remittances. The International Organization for Migration has been studying the developments in migration and remittances since 2006. All the data collected till last year show that the number of migrants was rising as well as the amounts of money they sent home.