By Driss R. Temsamani & Hannah Roeyer
The 361 Degrees Institute conducted a survey on remittances from Moroccans residing in the USA to Morocco. The research contemplates barriers, trends, habits and opportunities that exist in regards to the money flow to Morocco from the United States.
According to the World Bank, Moroccans Living Abroad sent remittances totaling 6.7 billion USD last year. In 2003, the last year for which data is available, Moroccans in the United States alone sent back a little over 200 million USD. This is a significant increase from 1990, when the reported 19,000 Moroccans living in the U.S. remitted 71 million dirham. These numbers represent the currency flowing through official channels such as bank accounts and money-transfer services, with the real total, including unreported gifts and money carried back or sent with others, likely much higher; Refass (1999: 102) has estimated that in the case of Morocco, between one quarter to one third of all remittances travel through these unofficial channels.
Although academics have commonly predicted a decline in the amount of money flowing to Morocco, a still-unexplained remittance upsurge in 2001 has lead to historically high levels that have yet to drop, and remittances from the United States do not seem poised to decrease significantly in the near future. The impact of the global recession will be unpredictable, but the history of remittances to Morocco shows that generally, as Moroccan GDP decreases, remittances increase. This is significant for those living in Morocco during a dip in GDP, as the poverty-alleviation effects of remittances have been well established (see especially Page & Plaza 2005).
In the results of this survey, four main methods emerged as the most widely used for transferring money: Western Union was reported to be the most popular company, with respondents’ personal banks and MoneyGram International being the next most widely used methods. Sending money with friends or family traveling back to Morocco was the fourth most frequent means of getting it back to Morocco, possibly reflecting respondents’ frustrations with the banking system, as noted many times in written comments returned with the surveys.
In selecting one particular method over another, the speed of the fund transfer was the most important factor; with the amount fees involved being the second main issue. The security of the transaction and the ease with which the recipient could get the money were the other two most widely reported factors in choosing a method of sending.
The biggest factors barring people from sending money more often to Morocco were, foremost, the currency exchange rates, followed by high fees and an inability to afford to send any additional money.
Many also commented that the current banking system is too unreliable and sometimes slow, and that this lack of confidence in the banks encourages people to send back cash or use the black market. The frequency with which people send money to Morocco varies widely - 22% of respondents send money 2-3 times a year, an additional 16% between 4-5 times a year, and 19 percent 12 or more times a year.
For most, it takes less than one day for money to travel from the USA to Morocco. Significantly, a full seven percent of respondents said that at times it can take a month or longer for money to get from the United States to its intended recipients in Morocco. It is this type of holdup that we hope to address with our research.
Of those who sent money back, 80% reported that it was for a family member, whereas 20% reported that it was for themselves, generally either for savings (28%) or investment (28%) purposes, or for a loan (24%).
Remittances are an extremely important source of income in Morocco, comprising an average of 9% of the country’s GDP every year since 2001. At the same time, the Moroccan American community is growing fast – up from almost 40,000 as reported in the 2000 census to anywhere from 150,000 to 300,000 today. Clearly, remittances from the United States to Morocco are becoming a more significant force every day, and will only increase in importance as more and more people settle here and begin to send money back to those still in Morocco. With this research, the 361 Degree Institute hopes to better understand the remaining concerns to be addressed in this increasingly significant issue and to work with the appropriate institutions to find innovative solutions.
See full Report
Submit your article, poem or story for publication.
