According the report of the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) published this monday, remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean are likely to rise this year after stabilizing during 2010, although a weaker dollar and higher inflation are reducing their purchasing power in many countries

Measured in U.S. dollars, money transfers made by Latin American and Caribbean migrants to their countries of origin reached $58.9 billion in 2010, virtually unchanged from $58.8 billion in 2009, when remittances saw a 15 percent drop due to the effects of the global economic crisis.

"Remittances remain a vital source of income for millions of families in the region who depend on these flows to cover the cost of basic needs such as clothing, medicine or food," the report noted. "For many of these recipient families, 2010 was a year of increased economic vulnerability, since with stronger local currency values and rising inflation, the remittances they received did not reach the same value of the previous year."

However, during 2010 remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean started to stabilize and even rise, albeit with significant differences among subregions.

Haiti saw the sharpest increase in the region, a 20 percent jump to almost $2 billion ($1.97 billion), as its Diaspora responded to the humanitarian crisis caused by last year's earthquake.

Going forward, the report added, remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean are likely to continue rising in volume in 2011, although still below the double-digit rates they attained in years prior to the global crisis. The pace of growth will depend principally on how strongly the job markets in source countries such as the United States and Spain recover.

PI/ HaitiLibre