India received $14.3 billion from Pakistan in 3 years

India received an estimated $14.36 billion in remittances from Pakistan in last three years, if World Bank’s ‘analytical estimates’ are to be believed. Interestingly, World Bank itself says this is “not an actual official data” and only “an estimate based on logical assumptions”.
The World Bank’s Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016 says, “India was the largest remittance receiving country, with an estimated $72 billion in 2015, followed by China ($64 billion) and the Philippines ($30 billion).”
https://weeklycorporateambassador.wordpress.com/2016/02/28/india-received-14-3-billion-from-pakistan-in-3-years/

Want to get richer? Then take in more refugees

As political debates about Syrian refugees rage on both sides of the Atlantic, initial assessments of their economic impact on receiving countries are comingin:Theinnuxis goodfor growth.

A new Bloomberg survey of economists predicts that Germany, the biggest recipient of Syrian asylum seekers in the Western world, will get a 0.2 per cent boost to its economic output next year if it takes in 800,000 refugees in 2015; that would be 12.5pc of Germany`s expected 2016 growth. The estimate is in line with the European Union`s most recent economic forecasts, which predict increases of 0.21pc for the gross domestic product of the EU as a whole in 2016, and 0.26pc in 2016.

These numbers may seem small, especially given some of the hyperbolic coverage of the `refugee crisis` in Europe. But then in equivalent terms, the influx of asylum seekers is small, too.

The 1.9 million refugees who arrived in the EU between January 2012 and July 2015 have increased the bloc`s population by 0.37pc. The European Commission predicts about 3 million will have arrived between the beginning of 2015 and the end of 2017, a tiny number next to the bloc`s total population of 508 million, although people in some neighbourhoods where refugees are being accommodated will feel otherwise.

The expected growth will mainly come from government spending. The German government estimates it needs to spend about 12,000 euros ($12,700) per refugee per year. That money, how-ever, is not going into a black hole: It stimulates domestic demand for goods and services. Economists have long been telling the German government it shouldn`t to be so tight-fisted, because the economy needed stimulus. Well, the refugees have melted Chancellor Angela Merkel`s heart and the stimulus is coming.

One could argue that this is unfair to locals: Why shouldn`t they, not some strangers, be at the receiving end of government largesse? As it is, local workers are at risk of being displaced by the refugees,andthe governments are only facilitating this with taxpayer money.

The unpopular answer is that locals are not procreating fast enough. European economies need more workers to keep expanding as the population ages, so the smarter governments are, in effect, buying immigrants to boost the workforce. A more politically acceptable argument in favour of the refugees is that their arrival increases the demand for local skilled workers in the bureaucracy, social services and education.

Integrating the newcomersisajobthatnooneexcept locals can take on. And more managers are needed as the workforce increases, as it inevitably will. That`s why the positive effect on growth is expected to be higher in 2017.

A recent World Bank study of the Syrian refugees` effect on the labour market in Turkey, which has accepted more than 2 million Syrians since 2011, registered this effect.

`The refugees, who overwhelmingly do not have work permits, result in the large-scale displacement ofinformal, low educated, female Turkish workers, especially in agriculture, Ximena Del Carpio and Mathis Wagner wrote.

`While there is net displacement, the inflow of refugees also creates higher wage formal jobs allowing for occupational upgrading of Turl(ish workers, while for women there is also an increase in school attendance.

Another reason the refugees are generally good for growth is that some of them come with financial assets.

Right-wing critics of permissive immigration policies like to point out that some of the newcomers are welldressed, equipped with modern smartphones and capable of paying human traffickers to bring them too Europe.

That`s not all bad. In 2013, the Jordanian Investment Board said Syrians had invested $1bn in the kingdom`s economy. In Turkey, the estimate is $10bn since 2011. Last year, Syrians founded more than 1,100 companies there, 26pc of all new foreign-owned firms.

Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan all have positive economic growth rates. They complain about the difficulties of dealing with millions of refugees and their shaky welfare states are certainly under strain. Even so, the newcomers are a force for growth.

In Jordan, the economicactivity rate of Syrians is higher than that of native Jordanians 48.5pc vs.

36.5pc. In Lebanon, just the humanitarian aid received by the Syrian refugees boosted GDP by 1.3pc last year, almost compensating for the drop in tourism and exports caused by the war in the neighbouring country, according to a study by the UNHCR, the United Nations` refugee agency.

There will be a temporary adjustment in Europe.

According to the EU`s forecast, per capita GDP in the bloc will drop by about 0.15pc next year because of the influx, because for now the refugees will naturally contribute less as a group than the settled population.

Europeans will notice the slight drop in living standards: Schools, clinics and police forces will of necessity be more strained than before.

The labour market, too, will become more competitive at its lower end. But soon, as public services expand tocope and the new labour force generates more output, this will smooth out.

Unfortunately, after the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, any argument in favour of accepting more refugees from the Middle East will struggle to be heard.
By Leonid Bershidsky
By arrangement with The Washington Post, dawn.com

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Europe will never be the same again

DON`T believe the upbeat headlines. The summit of European Union leaders held in Brussels a couple of weeks ago has not ended the acrimonious quarrelling among the bloc`s 28 leaders over Europe`s refugee crisis. The divisions are deep. Yes, some cracks have been papered over. Make no mistake, however, Europe has changed and may never be the same again. The summer and autumn of 2015 will be remembered as an important defining moment for a continent which has itself suffered the horrors of war, and persecution but which now, despite the economic slowdown, is still a largely comfortable and prosperous place. And with comfort have come complacency, self righteousness and, yes, a certain degree of selfishness. Mixed with this is fear of foreigners, especially those who also happen to be Muslim So why is this such an important watershed moment? Quite simply, because this is when Europe has to decide whether it turns inwards, enjoying its many assets and charms while shunning the rest of the world or whether it truly embraces the 21st century. 

The sudden arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees has shaken Europe to the core, revealing and highlighting still-deep-seated differences among nations and people and throwing cold water on the EU`s endless talk of shared `common values` among the 28 countries. For years, Europeans have known that they have an ageing population and need foreign labour both skilled and unskilled. And for just as many years, Europe has tried to ignore this reality. There are no legal channels for those seeking to migrate to Europe. Piecemeal efforts like `blue card` schemes end up in tatters. That`s not unique. Like many other countries and regions, Europe and Europeans are undecided about who they are and what they want to be. They vacillate between good and bad, open and closed. And the refugee crisis has made these uncertainties and internal rifts visible to the world. Suddenly, there is no more time for discussion, no time to fudge and vacillate. The `Islamic invasion`, the `Muslim hordes`, the `swarms of migrants` from poor nations are not just a nightmare, they are a reality. 

There is no place to hide. The wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan have ensured that Europe is now face to face with what it fears most: the arrival of thousands of `Muslims` who want refuge, shelter, asylum in Europe. Not surprisingly, the EU has been taken by surprise. Divisions within the EU are not new. It`s not easy for 28 sovereign nations to work together, pool resources and sometimes even pool their sovereignty in the name of European integration. But so far the infighting has been relatively civilised and calm. It`s been about the sharing of money,trade policy and whether to bomb or not to bomb foreign nations. In the case of the Eurozone crisis, especially as regards Greece, it did become ugly at moments. The Germans were demonised for forcing austerity on the poor suffering Greeks. The Greeks in turn were accused of being lazy and corrupt. Now it`s about much, much more. It`s about history, humanity, about Europe`s place in the world and about those cherished European `values`, namely tolerance, respect for others, compassion, etc. As they grapple with the reality of hundreds of thousands of refugees on their territory,those values have been neatly discarded by most of the EU`s new members from eastern and central Europe. And even the `old` EU nations are beginning to waver. The decision by EU leaders to give one billion euros in aid to Syria`s neighbouring countries which are sheltering the majority of the refugees may have temporarily stopped some of the embarrassingly public wrangling. Agreement to shore up the bloc`s external borders has also led to a collective sigh of relief among those who fear being engulfed by the world`s `poor and huddled masses` Now is also the time for anguished soul-searching, mea culpas and backtracking. The EU`s Polish president of the council, Donald Tusk, has warned that it is time to `correct our policy of open doors and windows` towards the refugees. Significantly, Tusk did not mention the policy of barbed wire fences, prisons and `jungles` implemented by most of his counterparts in eastern Europe. Tusk`s criticism of German Chancellor Angela Merkel`s decision to let in Syrian refugees did not go unnoticed. But Tusl( is not alone. The Slovak, Czech and Hungarian leaders are also up in arms against the EU decision to reallocate 120,000 refugees across most of the 28 member states. 

The EU`s most robust anti-immigration hardliner, Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, warned Merkel, against any `moral imperialism` Significantly, however, economists at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have said that the short-term strain on Europe posed by the refugees is outweighed by the long-term opportunity the newcomers present for a continent struggling with sluggish growth and home to an ageing population. Many European businesses have already said they are ready to offer jobs to the refugees who they believe can help bolster the bloc`s economies. In Germany, employers` organisations have issued an appeal to accelerate training for refugees, including German language training so that they can be employed as soon as possible. So yes, Europe today is confused, undecided and uncertain. Europeans know they need foreign labour and many recognise that the Syrian and other refugees, given their youth, talents and professional skills are a godsend for an ageing continent. But many are also likely to say: what a pity that so many are Muslims. 

"Europe will never be the same again" by Shada Islam, dawn.com

The writer is Dawn`s correspondent in Brussels.

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Humanity, Religion, Culture, Science, Peace

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