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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 90 - Monday December 11, 2006 |
Remittances and its contribution to Dominica’s Economy
 Thomson Fontaine
Dominica, with a population of 70 000 has lost an astonishing fifty thousand of its people to migration over the past thirty years. Building on a sound education system in the country, a large number of those migrating have gone on to distinguish themselves in their adopted homelands in areas as diverse as business, medicine, information technology, and law.
Over the years, these Diaspora Dominicans have played a consistent role both on an individual and group basis in contributing to the local economy. Traditionally, this support has involved the provision of financial and material resources to family and friends, the setting up of businesses, and promoting and preserving Dominica’s rich cultural heritage.
Dominica ranks among the world’s top twenty recipients of remittances relative to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and it currently constitutes the major source of external financing. Since 2001, the level of remittances to Dominica has more than doubled, keeping pace with the expanding migrant population, and it continues to exhibit an accelerating rate of growth.
Remittances into Dominica take the form of cash or in-kind contributions. Interestingly, a significant amount of the remittances coming from the French Caribbean and the US Virgin islands are in-kind (consumer products, groceries etc.). Dominicans residing in the United States particularly in New York and Miami also contribute in that form.
Cash remittances into Dominica continue to grow with the introduction of Western Union and Moneygram, which have added to the traditional means of transfer through the Banks and the Post Office. The level of remittances has consistently exceeded foreign direct investment and official government transfers and has more recently equaled export receipts; reaching US $ 40 million in 2004 (EC $ 124 million).
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