The large Guyanese population currently living in the United States, approximately 300,000, has over the years maintained a close connection with their homeland and, based on the findings of the study, has been sending down millions of U.S. dollars annually in remittances to relatives and friends here.

The study indicated that the Guyanese diaspora in the United States is sending down more than US$100M annually to Guyana.

The study (a draft working paper), entitled 'Remitting Back Home and Supporting the Homeland: The Guyanese Community in the U.S.', was conducted by Professor Manuel Orozco who is the Project Director for Central America at the Inter-American Dialogue and was commissioned by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Guyana Economic Opportunities (GEO) project.

This draft report was presented by Dr. Orozco at a symposium held yesterday at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown.

In his lengthy presentation to a packed audience which included Government Ministers, members of the diplomatic community, private and financial sectors, Orozco looked at the extent to which the Guyanese diaspora is connected with its home country and the level of remittances and contributions made to its economy.

He noted that four of the key findings of his study are - that the Guyanese society is significantly in contact with its home country and communities and their level of activity is widespread throughout the United States and focuses on a variety of philanthropic projects;

the flows of remittances sent back home are significantly high relative to the country's main economic indicators, amounting to at least US$100M annually;

the costs of sending money (example, money transfers) are among the highest in the Americas and the market is largely uncompetitive;

although a percentage of senders use banks to transfer remittances, there is no international electronic deposit fund capability in the country.

Orozco said this situation signals an opportunity to enable an international infrastructure that in turn provides a cost effective money transfer system.

"Family remittances illustrate the challenges and opportunities in the age of globalisation (and) the Guyanese community that sends money back home offers important development and growth opportunities," he said.

Orozco, however, pointed out that these opportunities depend on how certain challenges can be addressed. One is the high transaction cost in transferring remittances. Another is the country's limited international connectivity. Depending on the measures employed, reducing transaction costs would create a new economic opportunity in terms of increased remittance flows, he asserted.

The professor feels that a key worldwide change has been the impact of international labour mobility in integrating a country in the global economy and whether through transportation, tourism, telecommunication, trade or transfer of remittances, migration has positively affected economic growth in countries with significant migration rates.

Guyana represents an important illustration of the effects that migration can have on a country's economy.

"As globalisation stretches and deepens, the movement of people, their connections as a diaspora and their economic contributions are becoming a more widespread pattern (and) today's Guyana does not escape this reality," Orozco said.

He said, too, that the formation of the Guyanese nation state and its development are in large part a function of the migrations that have surrounded this South American country's history.

A mosaic of at least six ethnic groups, he acknowledged that Guyana was formed by the migrations of East Indians, Anglos, Africans, Chinese and other cultures and groups.

According to Orozco, the large majority of Guyanese retain a diasporic identity of belonging to an imagined community of a far-off ancestral nation, but this nation has also become a source of emigration and has formed its own Guyanese diaspora. People from Guyana have travelled to many countries in Europe, North America and the Caribbean, he said, pointing out that political and economic conditions led many to migrate in the seventies, setting in motion a pattern of linkages that are now significantly consolidated.

"Although no reliable data exists about the number of Guyanese living outside Guyana, the number may be as high as the total population residing in the country, which today is over 700,000," he told the gathering.

Orozco referred to a 1992 report which showed that at least 20,000 people were leaving Guyana annually for the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. According to a senior immigration official in Guyana, that number today is at least 50,000.

He said too, that interviews with Guyanese community leaders in the United States and Canada reveal that there are between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Guyanese living abroad. "Moreover, the U.S. census counted somewhere between 200,000 and 220,000 Guyanese in America with the large majority residing in New York," he pointed out.

According to the census, there are 131,909 Guyanese living in New York; 18,610 in New Jersey; 13,738 in Florida; 8,763 in Georgia; 7,579 in Maryland; 4,586 in Virginia; and 3,534 in California, among other states.

"Considering that there has been a significant undercount of other Latin American groups, at times by as much as 50 per cent, the number of Guyanese in the U.S. conservatively may be as high as 300,000," he said.

The study further revealed that there is a significant level of emigration with population groups settling predominantly in the United States and Canada. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Guyana's population exhibits one of the highest negative net migration rates.

"The current estimate for Guyana is in excess of six persons per 1,000 leaving the country, and it is estimated that by 2010 the number will increase to 97 per 1,000," Orozco forecasted.

The study also revealed that this migration is "producing important outcomes beyond population dynamics", specifically in terms of the establishment of transnational networks between Guyana and its diaspora.

Orozco also noted that diasporas tend to maintain symbolic linkages with a homeland. However, as globalisation is shortening the distances and increasing the forms of communication between places and people, migrants are strengthening their level of contact, he said.

He pointed out that 'hometown associations' and community-based organisations made up of immigrants to help their country of origin, are an important example of how contact with the home country is increasing.

Orozco indicated that there are some 183 organisations of the Guyanese diaspora which exist in the United States and Canada and that these organisations perform a range of activities, but predominantly concentrate on charitable work.

The professor, who also teaches at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute and is the author of numerous papers and articles on migration and remittances, said interviews were conducted with different leaders of the Guyanese associations to assess the extent of their linkages and the challenges they identify. The community leaders were asked about the type of activity their organisations perform in Guyana, the socio-economic status of their members, the extent of contact with Guyana and difficulties in staying in touch and sending remittances.

Orozco's report also explored the extent to which Guyanese stay in contact with their home country and families. "The majority of the community leaders interviewed stressed that their members maintain close ties with their friends and relatives but that it is relatively expensive to travel to or call Guyana," the report stated.

He noted that there are about 23 flights a month, most of which do not have a direct connection to Guyana and cost an average of US$700 from New York or Miami. "The limited numbers of flights, as well as their costs, were deemed by most community leaders to be limiting factors in increasing the contacts between the diaspora and Guyana," he pointed out in his report.

Orozco, however, noted that the limitation did not reflect an unwillingness to visit the country, but mostly signified that the intention to travel was often curtailed by the lack of choices. He said this factor is particularly important considering that New York has a large segment of Guyanese residing there, and for many Guyanese it is considered "an extension of Guyana".

In this regard, he said the travel opportunities are quite limited and expensive and costs are a major disincentive, and calls (telephone), like airfares, are significantly expensive. Orozco noted of selected Latin American and Caribbean countries, Guyana ranks as the most expensive country to call from the U.S.

One of the most important forms of connecting with the home country, he said, is by stretching the family ties back home.

"The various ways people strengthen these linkages include travelling, joining hometown associations or groups of a similar nature, staying in touch by phone or mail, but most importantly through remittances," Orozco said.

"In a world of intense migration, the benefits that the movement of people has had worldwide are quite significant (and) one important benefit for immigrant-sending countries has been remittances," he added.

According to him, remittances are what some call "the human face of globalisation".

Official numbers show that in a period of ten years, worldwide remittances doubled from US$34 billion in 1990 to over US$66 billion in 2000, "with an annual average in the previous decade of US$700-1000 per worker".

According to World Bank statistics, remittances in 2000 to 80 countries for which data was available, amounted to nearly US$70 billion. Orozco said these estimates provide an illustration of a larger and more significant way in which immigrant workers are affecting their home countries' economies.

He, however, noted that this data is incomplete and only represents a baseline of what could be the possible flow. Orozco said there are several reasons for possible underreporting of actual remittance flows in that not all countries are reported by the World Bank, sometimes World Bank figures reflect a lower amount than that reported by the Central Banks of each country and these banks themselves often underreport the actual flows due to a variety of reasons.

These shortcomings largely reflect government neglect about recognising and registering significant outflows of emigrants to various parts of the world and the economic contributions they provide.