I live in Washington, D.C., but I grew up in Sindhekela, a village in Orissa, in India. My father was a government worker. My mother could not read or write, but she would say to me, "A king is worshipped only in his own kingdom. A poet is respected everywhere." So I wanted to be a poet when I grew up. But I almost didn't go to college until an aunt offered financial help.
我住在華盛頓特區。 但我在「辛西克拉」長大, 這是印度奧里薩邦的一個村莊。 我爸是公務員。 我媽不識字, 但她告訴我: 「一個國王只受他的子民景仰, 但一名詩人會受眾人愛戴。」 所以我長大就想當詩人。 但我本來上不了大學, 直到一個阿姨資助我的學費。
I went to study in Sambalpur, the largest town in the region, where, already in college, I saw a television for the first time. I had dreams of going to the United States for higher studies. When the opportunity came, I crossed two oceans, with borrowed money for airfare and only a $20 bill in my pocket. In the U.S., I worked in a research center, part-time, while taking graduate classes in economics. And with the little I earned, I would finance myself and then I would send money home to my brother and my father.
我在「桑巴坡」唸書, 那是邦裡的最大城。 那時,已經要上大學的我, 生平第一次看電視。 我當時還想去美國進修。 所以機會一來, 我就決定跨越兩大洋。 借錢買了機票, 口袋只剩一張 20 美元。 到了美國, 我在研究中心打工, 同時攻讀經濟研究所。 雖然賺得不多, 但扣掉自己的開銷, 我還寄錢回家給爸爸、弟弟。
My story is not unique. There are millions of people who migrate each year. With the help of the family, they cross oceans, they cross deserts, they cross rivers, they cross mountains. They risk their lives to realize a dream, and that dream is as simple as having a decent job somewhere so they can send money home and help the family, which has helped them before.
我不是特例。 每年有幾百萬的移工 靠著家人幫忙, 橫渡海洋、穿越沙漠、 渡過溪流、翻過高山。 他們用生命實現夢想, 一個單純卑微的夢: 找份正當的工作, 然後寄錢回家、幫忙分擔, 報答家人之前的幫忙。
There are 232 million international migrants in the world. These are people who live in a country other than their country of birth. If there was a country made up of only international migrants, that would be larger, in population, than Brazil. That would be larger, in its size of the economy, than France. Some 180 million of them, from poor countries, send money home regularly.
全球有 2 億 3200 萬的移民。 他們住在出生地之外的陌生國度。 如果把所有移民 聚在一起變成一個國家, 它的人口會比巴西還多。 就經濟規模來說, 比法國還大。 其中 1 億 8000 萬的弱勢國移民 會固定寄錢回家鄉。
Those sums of money are called remittances. Here is a fact that might surprise you: 413 billion dollars, 413 billion dollars was the amount of remittances sent last year by migrants to developing countries. Migrants from developing countries, money sent to developing countries — 413 billion dollars. That's a remarkable number because that is three times the size of the total of development aid money. And yet, you and I, my colleagues in Washington, we endlessly debate and discuss about development aid, while we ignore remittances as small change.
我們統稱這些錢為「僑匯」。 告訴你驚人的事實: 4130 億美元 是去年發展中國家移民 寄回家的僑匯金額。 發展中國家的移工 把錢寄回發展中國家, 這金額高達 4130 億美元。 會說「高達」是因為, 這是已開發國家給予的 發展援助的三倍。 但是你和我, 還有我在華盛頓的同事, 以往不斷地辯證、 討論發展援助, 卻忽略僑匯帶來的改變。
True, people send 200 dollars per month, on average. But, repeated month after month, by millions of people, these sums of money add up to rivers of foreign currency. So India, last year, received 72 billion dollars, larger than its IT exports. In Egypt remittances are three times the size of revenues from the Suez Canal. In Tajikistan, remittances are 42 percent of GDP. And in poorer countries, smaller countries, fragile countries, conflict-afflicted countries, remittances are a lifeline, as in Somalia or in Haiti.
沒錯,每人平均每個月只寄 200 美元, 但幾百萬人、月復一月地寄, 累積成一筆可觀的外匯。 像印度去年, 就收到 720 億美元僑匯, 比其 IT 產業的出口還要多。 在埃及,僑匯相當於 蘇伊士運河的 3 倍收入。 在塔吉克,僑匯佔 GDP 的 42%。 在更窮的、更小、更脆弱、 受戰亂摧殘的國家,僑匯是命脈, 像是索馬利亞或海地。
No wonder these flows have huge impacts on economies and on poor people. Remittances, unlike private investment money, they don't flow back at the first sign of trouble in the country. They actually act like an insurance. When the family is in trouble, facing hardship, facing hard times, remittances increase, they act like an insurance. Migrants send more money then. Unlike development aid money, that must go through official agencies, through governments, remittances directly reach the poor, reach the family, and often with business advice.
怪不得這股錢潮 對經濟和窮人有這麼大的影響。 僑匯和私人投資不一樣, 它不會因為國家發生問題 就停止流入; 反而比較像保險。 如果家裡有困難, 碰到瓶頸、遇到難關, 僑匯還會增加,像保險一樣; 移民寄更多錢回家。 跟發展援助不一樣, 它不必透過公家單位、政府。 僑匯直接送到窮人手中、 送到家戶手中, 通常移工還教家人怎麼運用。 在尼泊爾,
So in Nepal, the share of poor people was 42 percent in 1995, the share of poor people in the population. By 2005, a decade later, at a time of political crisis, economic crisis, the share of poor people went down to 31 percent. That decline in poverty, most of it, about half of it, is believed to be because of remittances from India, another poor country. In El Salvador, the school dropout rate among children is lower in families that receive remittances. In Mexico and Sri Lanka, the birth weight of children is higher among families that receive remittances.
1995 年窮人佔 42%, 是窮人在總人口的比例。 10 年後的 2005 年, 當政治、經濟危機四起, 窮人比例降到 31%。 貧窮比例下降,很大一部份, 至少一半以上歸功於 來自印度或其他地方的僑匯。 在薩爾瓦多, 收到僑匯的家庭, 學童輟學率比較低。 在墨西哥和斯里蘭卡, 收到僑匯的家庭, 嬰兒出生體重比較高。 僑匯飽含著關懷。
Remittances are dollars wrapped with care. Migrants send money home for food, for buying necessities, for building houses, for funding education, for funding healthcare for the elderly, for business investments for friends and family. Migrants send even more money home for special occasions like a surgery or a wedding. And migrants also send money, perhaps far too many times, for unexpected funerals that they cannot attend.
移工想讓家人買食物、 買生活必需品、蓋房子, 讓小孩子受教育、 讓老人家看醫生、 投資家人朋友做生意。 移工會為特殊情況寄更多錢回家, 例如手術或婚禮。 移工還會在更多時候, 為突如其來的葬禮寄錢回家, 彌補他們缺席的遺憾。
Much as these flows do all that good, there are barriers to these flows of remittances, these 400 billion dollars of remittances. Foremost among them is the exorbitant cost of sending money home. Money transfer companies structure their fees to milk the poor. They will say, "Up to 500 dollars if you want to send, we will charge you 30 dollars fixed." If you are poor and if you have only 200 dollars to send, you have to pay that $30 fee. The global average cost of sending money is eight percent. That means you send 100 dollars, the family on the other side receives only 92 dollars. To send money to Africa, the cost is even higher: 12 percent. To send money within Africa, the cost is even higher: over 20 percent. For example, sending money from Benin to Nigeria. And then there is the case of Venezuela, where, because of exchange controls, you send 100 dollars and you are lucky if the family on the other side receives even 10 dollars. Of course, nobody sends money to Venezuela through the official channel. It all goes in suitcases. Whereever costs are high, money goes underground.
僑匯能帶來以上的效益, 但僑匯還是會受到限制, 限制這 4000 億美元的流動。 其中最主要的, 是昂貴的寄送費用。 轉匯公司訂出高價 去壓榨窮人。 他們會說:「交易低於 500 美元, 如果要寄的話,固定收 30 美元。」 如果你就是窮,只有 200 美元要寄, 你就要付 30 塊的手續費。 全球平均的轉匯費用是 8%。 也就是如果你寄 100 塊, 遠鄉的家人只會收到 92 塊。 如果是寄到非洲, 收費更高,12%。 非洲國家間互寄 收費還要再高, 達 20% 以上。 比如說從貝南寄到奈及利亞。 如果是委內瑞拉, 因為外幣交易管制, 寄 100 塊然後夠幸運的話, 你的家人可能還能收到 10 塊。 理所當然,沒人用官方管道 寄錢到委內瑞拉。 都是偷偷裝皮箱運進去。 只要官方收費高, 大家就走後門。
And what is worse, many developing countries actually have a blanket ban on sending money out of the country. Many rich nations also have a blanket ban on sending money to specific countries. So, is it that there are no options, no better options, cheaper options, to send money?
更糟的是, 很多開發中國家其實 明文禁止私自匯錢到國外。 很多富裕國家也明文禁止 把錢匯到特定國家。 所以真的別無選擇嗎? 沒有更好、更便宜的方式轉匯?
There are. M-Pesa in Kenya enables people to send money and receive money at a fixed cost of only 60 cents per transaction. U.S. Fed started a program with Mexico to enable money service businesses to send money to Mexico for a fixed cost of only 67 cents per transaction. And yet, these faster, cheaper, better options can't be applied internationally because of the fear of money laundering, even though there is little data to support any connection, any significant connection between money laundering and these small remittance transactions. Many international banks now are wary of hosting bank accounts of money service businesses, especially those serving Somalia.
有。 肯亞的 M-Pesa 公司讓大家 無論匯出或匯入, 每筆交易固定收 60 分。 美國聯準會和墨西哥合作, 讓貨幣服務企業 轉匯到墨西哥可以用 每筆交易固定收 67 分的費用。 然而,這些更快、更便宜、更好的方式, 還是沒辦法普及到全球。 因為難免有洗錢的嫌疑。 儘管沒什麼資料可以證明, 任何關聯、顯著的關聯, 說明洗錢和這些小額僑匯有關。 現在很多跨國銀行 留意到貨幣服務戶頭這塊業務, 特別是在索馬利亞。
Somalia, a country where the per capita income is only 250 dollars per year. Monthly remittances, on average, to Somalia is larger than that amount. Remittances are the lifeblood of Somalia. And yet, this is an example of the right hand giving a lot of aid, while the left hand is cutting the lifeblood to that economy, through regulations. Then there is the case of poor people from villages, like me. In the villages, the only place where you can get money is through the post office. Most of the governments in the world have allowed their post offices to have exclusive partnerships with money transfer companies. So, if I have to send money to my father in the village, I must send money through that particular money transfer company, even if the cost is high. I cannot go to a cheaper option. This has to go.
索馬利亞的人均收入 是每年 250 美元。 一年才 250 美元喔! 每個月匯入的平均僑匯 遠遠超過那個數字。 僑匯是索馬利亞的命脈。 但這就是一個例子: 人前說要幫助他們, 人後卻用管制的大刀, 切斷經濟活動的動脈。 或是像我這種鄉下來的窮人, 在小村子, 能領到錢的地方只有郵局。 世界上大多數政府, 都會允許郵局 和轉匯公司有專屬合作關係。 所以若我想寄錢給鄉下的爸爸, 我只能去找那間轉匯公司, 就算它收費很高。 我沒得選。 這必須要改變。
So, what can international organizations and social entrepreneurs do to reduce the cost of sending money home? First, relax regulations on small remittances under 1,000 dollars. Governments should recognize that small remittances are not money laundering. Second, governments should abolish exclusive partnerships between their post office and the money transfer company. For that matter, between the post office and any national banking system that has a large network that serves the poor. In fact, they should promote competition, open up the partnership so that we will bring down costs like we did, like they did, in the telecommunications industry. You have seen what has happened there. Third, large nonprofit philanthropic organizations should create a remittance platform on a nonprofit basis. They should create a nonprofit remittance platform to serve the money transfer companies so that they can send money at a low cost, while complying with all the complex regulations all over the world.
所以國際組織和 社會企業要怎麼做, 才能改善這個現象呢? 首先, 放鬆千元以下的小額僑匯管制。 政府應該要認知到 小額僑匯不是洗錢。 其次, 政府應該要取消 郵局和特定業者的壟斷合作。 如此一來, 郵局和其他大銀行的合作網路 才更能服務貧窮人口。 事實上,應該增加競爭, 創造更多合作可能, 才能讓成本下降, 就像現在的電信業服務。 大家都親身體驗到了。 第三點,大型非營利慈善機構 應該在非營利的基礎上, 設立僑匯平台。 創立非營利的僑匯平台, 幫忙轉匯公司。 才能以較低的費用提供服務, 同時也符合各國間複雜的規定。 已開發國家也應該
The development community should set a goal of reducing remittance costs to one percent from the current eight percent. If we reduce costs to one percent, that would release a saving of 30 billion dollars per year. Thirty billion dollars, that's larger than the entire bilateral aid budget going to Africa per year. That is larger than, or almost similar to, the total aid budget of the United States government, the largest donor on the planet. Actually, the savings would be larger than that 30 billion because remittance channels are also used for aid, trade and investment purposes.
設立減少轉匯費用的目標: 從現在的 8% 到 1%。 如果能降到 1%, 每年就能多出 300 億美元。 300 億美元比他們每年 給非洲的雙邊援助還要多。 至少相等甚至超過 全球最大的金援國, 美國政府的援助預算。 事實上不只多 300 億, 因為僑匯的管道 也會用做援助、貿易和投資用途。
Another major impediment to the flow of remittances reaching the family is the large and exorbitant and illegal cost of recruitment, fees that migrants pay, migrant workers pay to laborers who found them the job.
另一個影響 僑匯送達家戶的主要障礙, 是為數眾多、高昂、非法的 仲介代辦費, 移工會付錢給仲介, 讓他們幫忙介紹工作。
I was in Dubai a few years ago. I visited a camp for workers. It was 8 in the evening, dark, hot, humid. Workers were coming back from their grueling day of work, and I struck a conversation with a Bangladeshi construction worker. He was preoccupied that he is sending money home, he has been sending money home for a few months now, and the money is mostly going to the recruitment agent, to the labor agent who found him that job. And in my mind, I could picture the wife waiting for the monthly remittance. The remittance arrives. She takes the money and hands it over to the recruitment agent, while the children are looking on. This has to stop.
我幾年前在杜拜, 探視一個移工營。 晚上 8 點,裡面又暗又熱又濕。 工人們才剛卸下 一整天工作的勞頓。 我和一個孟加拉來的 建築工人聊天。 他來工作就打算要寄錢回家。 他已經一連寄好幾個月了, 然後大部分的錢 都付給帶他來杜拜和 幫他找工作的仲介。 我腦海中可以想像, 他每個月等著錢的妻子。 當錢寄到家, 她拿著領到的錢交給仲介, 然後孩子在旁邊目睹一切。 這必須停止。 不只是孟加拉來的建築工人,
It is not only construction workers from Bangladesh, it is all the workers. There are millions of migrant workers who suffer from this problem. A construction worker from Bangladesh, on an average, pays about 4,000 dollars in recruitment fees for a job that gives him only 2,000 dollars per year in income. That means that for the two years or three years of his life, he is basically sending money to pay for the recruitment fees. The family doesn't get to see any of it.
是對所有工人。 有數百萬的移工正面臨這種處境。 孟加拉來的建築工人, 每人平均要付 4000 美元仲介費, 但他一年只賺 2000 美元。 意思就是生命中有兩三年, 基本上就是寄錢回家, 直接付給仲介。 家人連錢的影子都看不到。
It is not only Dubai, it is the dark underbelly of every major city in the world. It is not only Bangladeshi construction workers, it is workers from all over the world. It is not only men. Women are especially vulnerable to recruitment malpractices.
不只在杜拜,這是全球各大都市 不能明說的苦。 不專屬孟加拉建築工人, 是全球移工共同的難題。 也不只是男人。 女性更容易受仲介歪風迫害。 僑匯領域一個最鼓舞人心、
One of the most exciting and newest thing happening in the area of remittances is how to mobilize, through innovation, diaspora saving and diaspora giving. Migrants send money home, but they also save a large amount of money where they live. Annually, migrant savings are estimated to be 500 billion dollars. Most of that money is parked in bank deposits that give you zero percent interest rate. If a country were to come and offer a three percent or four percent interest rate, and then say that the money would be used for building schools, roads, airports, train systems in the country of origin, a lot of migrants would be interested in parting with their money because it's not only financial gains that give them an opportunity to stay engaged with their country's development. Remittance channels can be used to sell these bonds to migrants because when they come on a monthly basis to send remittances, that's when you can actually sell it to them. You can also do the same for mobilizing diaspora giving. I would love to invest in a bullet train system in India and I would love to contribute to efforts to fight malaria in my village. Remittances are a great way of sharing prosperity between places in a targeted way that benefits those who need them most.
最新的發展, 是如何用創新科技, 動員僑民儲蓄和捐贈。 移工要寄錢回家, 但他們也會在 自己工作的地點儲蓄。 每年移工的儲蓄, 估計有 5000 億美元。 但大多都存在 幾乎零利率的戶頭。 如果有個國家決定 提供 3% 到 4% 的利率, 然後把錢用在投資他們母國 蓋學校、鋪路、建機場、修鐵路, 很多移工一定會 樂於貢獻自己的一分力, 因為他們貢獻的 不只是錢, 還幫助了家鄉的發展。 僑匯的管道還可以 販售債券給移工。 因為他們每個月 都會來匯錢, 所以剛好可以推銷給他們。 同時也可以宣傳僑民捐獻。 我很想投資印度的 子彈列車系統, 我也很想在故鄉的 瘧疾防治上盡一份心力。 僑匯是一個好方法, 讓兩地之間共享繁榮; 藉由針對性的協助 幫助最需要的人。
Remittances empower people. We must do all we can to make remittances and recruitment safer and cheaper. And it can be done.
僑匯給人力量。 我們要盡力讓僑匯和仲介, 更安全、成本更低。 我相信這可行。
As for myself, I have been away from India for two decades now. My wife is a Venezuelan. My children are Americans. Increasingly, I feel like a global citizen. And yet, I am growing nostalgic about my country of birth. I want to be in India and in the U.S. at the same time. My parents are not there anymore. My brothers and sisters have moved on. There is no real urgency for me to send money home. And yet, from time to time, I send money home to friends, to relatives, to the village, to be there, to stay engaged — that's part of my identity. And, I'm still striving to be a poet for the hardworking migrants and their struggle to break free of the cycle of poverty. Thank you. (Applause)
拿我來說, 我離開印度有 20 年了。 我妻子是委內瑞拉人。 我的孩子是美國人。 我逐漸覺得我就是全球公民。 但是我對家鄉的思念 更加濃烈。 我好想同時在印度又在美國。 我父母已經不在了。 我的手足也都過得不錯。 我沒有迫切需要寄錢回家。 然而我三不五時, 還是會寄一點給朋友、 給親戚、給我的村莊。 就像我還是那裡的一份子, 這是我認同的一部分。 當然我還是想當詩人, 寫下那些辛苦的移工, 想擺脫代代貧困的掙扎。 謝謝。 (掌聲)