9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I live in Washington, D.C. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I grew up in Sindhekela, a village in Orissa[br]in India. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My father was a government worker. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My mother could not read or write, but she 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 would say to me, "A king is worshiped only in his 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 own kingdom. A poet is respected everywhere." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I wanted to be a poet when I grew up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I almost didn't go to college 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 until an aunt offered financial help. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I went to study in ___, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the largest town in the region, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where, already in college, I saw a[br]television for the first time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I had dreams of going to the United States 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for higher studies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When the opportunity came, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I crossed two oceans, with borrowed money 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for airfare, and only a 20 dollar bill in my pocket. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the U.S., I worked in a research center, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 part-time, while taking graduate classes in economics 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and with the little I earned, I would 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 finance myself and then I would send 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 money home to my brother and mother. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My story is not unique. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are millions of people who migrate each year. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 With the help of the family, they cross oceans, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they cross deserts, they cross rivers, they cross mountains. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They risk their lives to realize a dream, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that dream is as simple as having a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 decent job so they can send money home 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and help the family, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which has helped them before. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are 232 million international migrants in the world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These are people who live in a country 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 other than their country of birth. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If there was a country made up of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 only international migrants, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that would be larger in population 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 than Brazil. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That would be larger in its size 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the economy than France. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Some 180 million of them, from poor countries, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 send money home regularly. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Those sums of money are called remittences. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Here is a fact that might surprise you: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 413 billion dollars, 413 billion dollars 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was the amount of remittences sent last year 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by migrants to developing countries. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Migrants from developing countries, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 money sent to developing countries-- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 413 billion dollars. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's a remarkable number 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that is three times the size of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the total of development aid money. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And yet, you and I, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 my colleagues in Washington, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we endlessly debate and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 discuss about development aid 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 while we ignore remittences as small change. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 True, people send 200 dollars per month 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on average, but repeated month after month, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by millions of people, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 sums of money add up to rivers [br]of foreign currency. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, India last year received 72 billion dollars, larger than 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 its IT exports. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Egypt, in Egypt remittences are three times 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the size of revenues from the Suez Canal. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In Tajikistan, remittences are forty-two percent of GDP. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In poorer countries, smaller countries, conflict 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 afflicted countries, remittences are a lifeline, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as in Somalia or in Haiti. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 No wonder these flows have huge 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 impacts on economies and on poor people. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Remittences, unlike private investment money, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they don't flow back at the first 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 sign of trouble in the country. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They actually act like an insurance. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When the family is in trouble, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 facing hardship, facing hard times, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 remittences increase, they act like an insurance. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Migrants send more money then. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Unlike development aid money, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that must go through official agencies 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and governments, remittences 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 directly reach the poor, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 reach the family, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and often with business advice. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, in Nepal, the share of poor 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people was forty-two percent in 1995, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the share of poor people in the population. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 By 2005, it declined later, at a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 time of political crisis, economic crisis. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The share of poor people went down to thirty-one percent. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That decline in poverty, most of it, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 about half of it, is believed to be 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because of remittences from India, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a poor country. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In El Salvador, the school dropout 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 rate among children is lower 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in families that receive remittences. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In Mexico and Sri Lanka, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the birth weight of children is higher 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 among families that receive remittences. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Remittences are dollars wrapped with care. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Migrants send money home for food, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for buying necessities, for building houses, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for funding education, for funding 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 healthcare for the elderly, for business 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 investments for friends and family. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Migrants send even more money home 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for special occasions like a surgery 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or a wedding. And migrants also send 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 money, perhaps far too many times, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for unexpected funerals that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they cannot attend. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Much as these flows do all that good, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there are barriers to these 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 flows of remittences, these 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 400 billion dollars of remittences. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Foremost among them is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the exorbitant costs of sending money home. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Money transfer companies structure 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 their fees to milk the poor. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They will say, "up to 500 dollars 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that you want to send, we will charge you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 30 dollars fixed." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you are poor and have only 200 dollars to send, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you have to pay that 30 dollar fee. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The global average cost of sending 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 money is eight percent. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That means you send 100 dollars, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the family on the other side receives only 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 92 dollars. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 To send money to Africa, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the cost is even higher: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 twelve percent. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 To send money within Africa, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the cost is even higher: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 over twenty percent. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For example, sending money from Benin [br]to Nigeria. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then there is the case of Venezuela, where, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because of exchange controls, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you send 100 dollars and you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are lucky if the family on the other side 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 receives even 10 dollars. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Of course, nobody sends money to Venezuela 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 through the official channel. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It all goes in suitcases. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Whereever costs are high, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 money goes underground. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And what is worse, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 many developing countries actually 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 have a blanket ban on sending money 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 out of the country. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Many rich nations also have a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 blanket-ban on sending money [br]to specific countries. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, is it that there are no options, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 no better options to send money? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mpesa in Kenya enables people to send money 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and receive money at a fixed cost of only 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 60 cents per transaction. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 U.S. Fed started a program with Mexico 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to enable money service businesses 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to send money to Mexico 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for a fixed cost of only 67 cents per transaction. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And yet, these faster, cheaper, better options 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can't be applied internationally 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because of the fear of money laundering, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 even though there is little data 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to support any connection, any significant 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 connection between money laundering 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and these small remittence transactions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Many international banks now 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are weary of hosting bank accounts of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 money service businesses, especially 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 those serving Somalia. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Somalia, a country where the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 part-time income is only 250 dollars per year, 250 dollars per year. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Monthly remittences, on average, to Somalia 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is larger than that amount. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Remittences are the lifeblood of Somalia. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And yet, this is an example of the right 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hand getting a lot of aid, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 while the left is cutting the lifeblood 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to that economy, through regulations. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Then there is the case of poor people[br]from villages, like me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the villages, the only place where you can 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 get money is through the Post Office. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most of the governments in the world 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 have allowed their post offices to have 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 exclusive partnership with money transfer companies. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, if I have to send money to my 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 father in the village, I must send money 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 through that particular money transfer company, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 even if the cost is high. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I cannot go to a cheaper option. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This has to go. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, what can international organizations, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 social entrepreneurs do to reduce [the] cost 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of sending money home? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 First, relax regulations on small remittances[br]under 1000 dollars. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Governments should recognize that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 small remittances are not money laundering. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Second,