THE ECONOMIC ROLE OF MIGRANTS REMITTANCE IN ERITREA

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognizes the positive role of migrants in sustainable economic development and precisely include migration in three targets, and it’s linked indirectly to many more [1], [2]. Many experts of economic development also agree that remittances are perhaps the most highly visible and tangible benefit of emigration to the origin countries, especially for developing countries like Eritrea [3]. There is an emerging consensus in the literature that migration and remittance are part and parcel of an overall livelihood strategy through which households try to cope with shocks [4]. In the case of Eritrea, although the political and humanitarian aspect of emigration is highly investigated, its economic impact is hardly researched. This article tries to investigate the economic impact of emigration by giving more emphasis on the positive role of economic remittance. Thus this article aimed at providing an overview of general migration trends of Eritrea which primarily focus on remittances and their role on the home country. Using data triangulation analysis, diverse sources such as literature review, interviews of individual and family migrants in Sudan, as well as discussions with Eritrean students of higher institution and informants from host countries of Eritrean diaspora, this paper presents relevant findings that can help to realize the positive role of remittance to the Eritrean economy and adds to the literature which so far is very negligible. For Eritrea a low income country remittance constitute an important part of the economy. Economic remittance supplement the domestic incomes of millions of poor families mostly used for consumption rather than investment and are vital source of foreign exchange for Eritrea. Remittance to Eritrea is mostly sent to families and relatives through various means and the informal channel is the most predominant. This study finds that although the views towards the role of remittance is mixed for the long run, given the current economic and political situation, remittance is considered the life blood of the economy. Although migration has undeniable negative economic impact, this paper is limited only on the positive economic impact of migration.