remittances

Jacqueline Trejo, mayor of Macuelizo, walks past one of the town's murals. The pink flowering tree that's depicted is the source of the town's name. She wanted to improve the quality of life there but lacked the funds to fulfill her plans.

A Honduras mayor gambled on a plan for her town. She got 80 guitars ... and a lot more

6:59am July 23, 2023

Mayor Suyapa Jaqueline Trejo wanted music education for the youth of Macuelizo and a better quality of life for her town. Her municipality was strapped for cash. So she came up with a novel idea.

Women wearing face masks stand at a safe distance to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus, as they wait for food assigned to their children outside a school in Xesuj, Guatemala, where many residents depend on remittances, largely from the U.S. The

COVID-19 Is Cutting Into Vital Money U.S. Migrant Workers Send Back Home

5:24pm April 17, 2020

by Carrie Kahn

A remittances expert estimates the money sent back to Latin America and the Caribbean could decline by 7%.

Mim Akter Tania, 22, thought she was getting a job as a hospital custodian in Saudi Arabia. Instead, she says, she ended up as a domestic servant with an abusive boss.

They Pump $15 Billion A Year Into Bangladesh's Economy — But At What Cost?

4:40pm June 03, 2019

by Jason Beaubien

Bangladeshis who want to work abroad can pay thousands of dollars for a permit. The reward is a chance for a job that allows them to send cash back home. But there's a potential for abuse as well.

A Salvadoran man reads a newspaper at a market in San Salvador on January 8. The newspaper headline reads: "The United States will decide today the future of TPS."

What You May Not Realize About The End Of TPS Status For Salvadorans

4:29pm January 09, 2018

by Nurith Aizenman

It's not just immigrants from El Salvador who stand to lose. Here's why their families back home could be devastated.

Queue Listen Now

Countries that received the most remittance dollars from the U.S. in 2015

A Proposed New Tax, Mainly On Latinos, To Pay For Trump's Border Wall

3:55pm May 25, 2017

by Jason Beaubien

It's called the Border Wall Funding Act of 2017. And it would place a new tax on money being wired to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Queue Listen Now

Last year, a record amount in remittances was sent home by Latin American and Caribbean migrants.

Mexicans In The U.S. Are Sending Home More Money Than Ever

4:01pm February 10, 2017

by Nurith Aizenman

A new report finds that remittances by migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean topped $69 billion last year — the highest amount on record.

Remittances are a worldwide business. Above, an agent in Hong Kong specializes in transferring cash to the Philippines.

Who Gives More To The Developing World: Aid Donors Or Migrant Workers?

4:51pm April 13, 2016

by NPR Staff

Remittances — money sent home by migrants working abroad — add up to more than triple the amount of official foreign aid to developing countries. And that makes some people unhappy.