News Analysis: Remittance-dependent economies feeling pinch of global slowdown

As the world's leading industrialized countries rush to cut interest rates and mull bailout plans to counter the spiraling global economic crisis, poorer economies which rely a great deal on remittances are also beginning to feel the pinch.

The World Bank's estimates put global remittances to developing countries at 283 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, up 6.7 percent from the previous year.

In countries like the Philippines, Tajikistan, and Mexico, where money sent home by overseas migrant workers play a significant role in propping up national economies, the lifeline of remittances is, however, under threat as it takes its toll of the troubled world economy.

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