ABSTRACT
In recent years, interest in the transnational activities of migrants, and in particular their remittance sending behaviour, has rapidly increased. Government and UN bodies as well as NGOs are investing much in attempts to understand this aspect of international migration and develop policies that maximize the benefi ts of remittances. Expectations are so high that they are being dubbed the new development fi nance (Wimaladharma, Pearce, & Stanton, 2004). But in order to develop relevant policies, sound knowledge on remittance sending and receiving behaviour is vital. Although substantial research is now available on the potential of migrant workers’ remittances to their countries of origin (Adams & Page, 2005; Carling, 2005; Russell, 1993; World Bank, 2005; Van Hear & Sorensen, 2003), far less information is available on the scale, nature, and impact of refugees’ remittances. One possible reason for this is that in typologies and theories of international migration, refugees have normally been seen to constitute the political element and labour migrants the economic element of international migration (Koser, 1997 p. 591). Literature on refugees and exiles has rarely extended its focus to consider the wide range of nonpolitical transnational activities, including remittance sending, that are so central to most studies amongst other migrant communities (Al-Ali, Black & Koser, 2001 p. 615). Yet, it is incorrect to assume that, because refugees do not in the fi rst place migrate for economic reasons, they refrain from engaging in economic activities that assist their relatives or benefi t their home country.
