Remittances Statistics:

First Meeting of the Luxembourg Group June 2006

Last Updated: July 28, 2017

The Luxembourg Group was created as an informal working group of practitioners to consider the difficulties of collecting and compiling remittance data. The objective of the Group is to make recommendations for improvements that should lead to the production of a compilation guide for remittance statistics.

Jointly with Eurostat and the World Bank, the IMF planned the first meeting of the Luxembourg Group (and constituted its secretariat) which was held in June 2006 with participation from 16 countries (including two absentee contributions). The Centre for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA) also reported about progress in their project of developing compilation guidance for Latin American countries (the IMF Statistics Department participates in an advisory capacity).

The meeting demonstrated that varied experience with data systems for the compilation of remittance data exists, making the planned production of a compilation guide a feasible project. The Group concluded that it will move forward, continuing to collect the required material and producing an annotated outline. The next meeting is planned for December 4-5, 2006, and the Central Bank of Lebanon has offered to host it.

The following countries and international institutions prepared contributions to the Luxembourg meeting:

Albania
Measuring Migrants' Remittances in Albania

Brazil
Remittance Compilation Methodology in Brazil

Centre for Latin American Monetary Studies (CEMLA)
Progress Report on CEMLA Remittances Compilation Manual for LAC Countries

Germany
Workers' remittances, current private transfers and compensation of employees in the German Balance of Payments Statistics

India
Cross-border Workers' Remittances: Transmission Channels and Measurement Issues in India

International Monetary Fund
Remittances in the Balance of Payments Framework: Current Problems and Forthcoming Improvements

Italy
Remittance statistics in Italy - a short note on current practice

Japan
Improvements in Japan's workers' remittances data

Lebanon
Compensation of Employees and Workers' Remittances

Mexico
Balance of Payments Inflows from Migrant Labor Abroad

Moldova
Moldova: Compilation of Data on Remittances