Around the world, hundreds of millions of households and families depend on remittances sent home by migrants working abroad. For many nations, those flows form a sizable chunk of the national economy. But the World Bank has now warned that coronavirus-related lockdowns could slash remittances by as much as 20 percent this year, wreaking havoc on the economies that depend on that cash the most. Consider Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, where remittances account for almost a third of GDP. Or Central American countries like El Salvador and Honduras where the figure is roughly 20 percent. Tiny Lebanon's giant diaspora sends home cash worth 12 percent of GDP, while transfers from Philippine seamen and overseas domestic workers support 10 percent of their home economy. Here's a look at some of the countries that will be hit hardest if global remittance flows grind to a halt because of the coronavirus pandemic.
More from GZERO Media
Pro-Palestinian student demonstrations and encampments have popped up at dozens of US universities in recent weeks. Columbia University – where protests began – and other elite schools in the Northeast have grabbed plenty of headlines, but where they are facing the harshest pushback – and could ultimately help Republicans win back the White House – is in the South.
The Biden admin. says it’s high time to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, and it wants to knock it from Schedule I to Schedule III — meaning it would no longer be grouped with heroin and LSD.
Beijing, already a global economic power, wants to cut a larger figure in diplomacy, cultivating an image as a more honest broker than the US, with closer ties to the so-called “Global South.”
Haiti’s transitional council unexpectedly elected obscure former Sports Minister Fritz Bélizaire as prime minister on Tuesday, dividing the council 4 to 3.
Yale legal scholar Emily Bazelon on why she says public faith in the Supreme Court matters deeply, while collegiality amongst justices doesn't really matter at all.
Last Wednesday, as part of the sweeping foreign-aid package that included much-neededfunding for Ukraine’s defense, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill requiring that TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, sell the popular video-sharing app to an American buyer within a year or face a ban in the United States.
On GZERO World, Pulitzer prize-winning New York Times correspondent David Sanger argues that China's rise and Russia's aggressive stance signal a new era of major power competition, with both countries fueling instability in the US to distract from their strategic ambitions.
Last night, hundreds of NYPD officers entered Columbia University in riot gear, one night after students occupied a building on campus and 13 days after students pitched an encampment that threw kerosene on a student movement against the war in Gaza.
How will the international community respond to an Israeli invasion of Rafah? How would a Trump presidency be different from his first term? Are growing US campus protests a sign of a chaotic election in November? Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.