英语论文网

As shown in the previous section, the bulk of recent reports and updated data on remittances published by multilateral organizations like the World Bank or the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) underline the high volume of remittances relative to the size of recipient economies, particularly for Latin America. [12] According to the Multilateral Investment Fund, Latin America and the Caribbean received US$62,300 million in remittances in 2006; that is, 15% more than the previous year. This figure includes remittances to Ecuador: US$2,900 million in 2006. The World Bank records similar figures: US$2,922 million in 2006 and an expected increase to US$3,178 million in 2007. [13]

Other official sources at the national level indicate similar amounts. According to Banco de Espa?a (central bank of Spain), Spain’s remittances to Ecuador amounted to US$1,453 million in 2006. [14] This figure is slightly higher that recorded by Banco Central de Ecuador (central bank of Ecuador): almost US$1,300 million coming from Spain; that is, 44.2% of total flows from all origins. [15] Data from Banco Central de Ecuador coincide with World Bank and IADB figures (See table 1).

There are well-known problems in dealing with remittance figures. Perhaps the most common is the inability of central banks to totally capture this flow, since a significant portion is transferred through informal financial channels. In this sense, some authors recommend household surveys in order to assess the effective volume of transfers (see, for instance, álvarez et al. (2006) and Hernández-Coss (2005)). This is precisely what Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos (INEC, the national statistics office) did in Ecuador. However, the most recent national household survey (Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida) in 2006 revealed a significantly lower volume of transfers. According to this source, Ecuadorian households received US$732 million in 2006, of which US$322 million came from Spain [16] . A higher figure is published by Jiménez-Martín et al. (2007), in a study that estimates the volume and destination of remittances both inside and outside the European Union. This research identifies Spain-Ecuador as one of the main remittances “corridors”. In 2004, the estimated flow through this corridor was €571.4 million, or approximately US$711 million.

The considerable differences between various sources of data might be attributed to an overvaluation of remittances by central banks reporting to multilateral organizations; to an undervaluation by INEC and Jiménez-Martín et al. (2007); or to both. Actually, data published by Banco de Espa?a is also just an estimation of this flow; it is not entirely based on reporting by the financial system. As explained by álvarez et al. (2006), this came as a response to the low volume of remittances being recorded by the reporting system. Inflows from Spanish migrants to Northern Europe in the 1960s and 1970s were still exceeding outflows to developing countries, despite 本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。