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njucks
Gambia
1131 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Mar 2006 : 13:28:05
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this topic has nothing to do with its cousin being discussed in another thread, but i must admit the title was inpired by it.
the reason i am writing it is i came across a text written by a spanish student on gambians in Spain. she stated that there are 15000 legally resident gambians spain. shes even claims that this is an underestimate. then i wondered and did a rough calculation.
assuming (a conservative value to exclude children) that there are equally 7000 gambians in the UK,the USA,Scandinavia who over a period of one year remit $500 back home. you arrive at about D400m /year!!!! (7000x4x500x30). i'm not so good at maths but i think its correct.
ofcourse this is just a simple calculation on my part not very accurate. the figure is higher in the UK,USA and $500 is not a large sum abroad especially over 12 months. there are also more countries not included like Germany, austria , belgium,holland etc. i also did not include for example the higher rates of the pound/euro agianst the $. if you try you will probably get twice my result.
where does all this money go? reading other discussions in the bantaba you can almost think ngentehs, heiw, taka, tobaski? but then there are school fees etc and other good things sometimes not mentioned.
but the real question is if the true figure is near the D1bn mark then should gambians abroad be taken seriously as a bigger contributor/in fact a sector of national development compared to tourism etc.lets face it most tourists dont spend money these days. this is a lot of money when compared to total output.
i know in senegal they even have an entire ministry of senegalese abroad (Ministre des sénégalais de l'Extérieur)to cordinate this properly as inward investment.
what do u think about this issue?
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bamba
Sweden
401 Posts |
Posted - 17 Mar 2006 : 21:12:12
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| Njucks, monies being sent home now go to individual families and do not necessarily enhance national development. When monies are sent to go directly to the development of societal infrastructures the story will then be different. |
Bamba |
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Janyanfara
Tanzania
1350 Posts |
Posted - 17 Mar 2006 : 21:42:48
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Hi I agre with Njucks,
But will some one critically listen to khadimul rasul Bamba...He has a very good point. |
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Nyancho
Switzerland
22 Posts |
Posted - 18 Mar 2006 : 09:11:17
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Njucks,you are absolutely right that Gambians are contributing immensely(talking of positive contribution) to their families back home
without which many a family would be under todays economic harshness,be condemned to demise.Unless one comes from some few rich families,most who made it here has as their immediate priority,the plight of their close nit and or extended family before starting with the community/society etc. |
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Pappa
USA
76 Posts |
Posted - 18 Mar 2006 : 09:42:53
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| Great, this forum is becoming quite interesting lately, and I like that a lot. Brother Njucks, I agree with you that there're Gambians (lots of them infact) definitely sending tons of money back home to help for different needs. But, what's the percentage doing that compared to the total number residing in the dispora, plus what are those finances mostly used for; personal or business developments. I probably cannot give a correct estimate, but, from my comparisons and what I've noticed in The Gambia (correct me if I'm wrong), finances are mostly being utilized for personal needs or developments (which is still good though, because families need that to meet basic necessities - Food, Clothing & Shelter) but, extra steps should be taken as well to invest in business-oriented developments. This is one of the mechanisms that stimulates a nation's development to the fullest capacity. |
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bamba
Sweden
401 Posts |
Posted - 18 Mar 2006 : 09:53:32
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| Nyancho, you are absolutely right, it behoves every Gambian abroad to help kith and kins to alleviate poverty. It's inherent in our exteded family structures in black Africa. Going beyond that to community help needs proper co-ordination to avoid community help ending up in the pockets of the corrupt. Black Africa is plagued with corruptions. |
Bamba |
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bamba
Sweden
401 Posts |
Posted - 18 Mar 2006 : 10:13:19
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quote:
Originally posted by bamba
Nyancho, you are absolutely right, it behoves every Gambian abroad to help kith and kins to alleviate poverty. It's inherent in our extended family structures in black Africa. Going beyond that to community help needs proper co-ordination to avoid community help ending up in the pockets of the corrupt. Black Africa is plagued with corruptions.
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Bamba |
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ylowe
USA
217 Posts |
Posted - 19 Mar 2006 : 04:58:53
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| Sending monies to families back home will help stimulate the economy. Spending goes up and bussiness benefits too. Another thing it does is increase the amount of foreigh exchange available in the country and the value of the dalasi depends on the availability of foreign exchange. i think one reason why the dalasi is so weak is that the government at some point was raising revenue by printing alot of money and as a result we have too many dalasis chasing few foreighn currencies. Remittances to families back home is beneficial any way you want to look at it. Bye |
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Pappa
USA
76 Posts |
Posted - 19 Mar 2006 : 09:12:32
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| Yeah ylowe, you may be right, depending on the circumstances spending may stimulate the economy in different ways but, do you also know/realized that uncontrollable spending may cause inflation. On an average most Gambians back home, do not save (I mean on the long-term, i.e. not deposit money in an account and use it in a few weeks/months), this tends to encourage spending. The more spending the more money floating around - the demand for goods & services is high, supply is low, prices go up, then, the dalasi becomes devalued. Now, I'm not sure if Gov't was reprinting more money or not, that most definitely could also cause inflation if it's not measured, because that increases the money flow. |
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Ousman
USA
103 Posts |
Posted - 19 Mar 2006 : 19:06:39
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Granted, I am not an economist or verse in the world of finances, but I will venture to say that economic development or lack thereof is dependent mainly on the political, social and economic policies put forth by the government. If the goverment is inept at setting and implementing the right policies the governed will always be handicapped when it comes to economic development.
I am a techie by profession. I will love to go back to the Gambia today and start a small business. But any business plan I drew up will have to put into consideration the availability of energy and at a reasonable price to enable me to get a return on investment. That is a huge problem in our country today. China and India are having a booming economy because of tech outsourcing. I am not saying we can compete with them, but given the right energy balance, there are numerous Gambian technology workers here in the USA and other western countries to start our own tech industry and educate our folks in this field. That is not the cure all but it is a start. There are other Gambians in engineering and technical disciplines with the same constraints.
I guess what I am trying to say in a nutshell is that the underpinning of an economic success story is good infrastructure. Building a decent infrastructure for meaninful development is the role of government. People in the diaspora will stream back home as soon as there is an infrastucture to support their ventures. It is not the political environment that is keeping some of us away, it is the conditions that they create, which makes the viability of our plans mute. |
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