Quantitative and Qualitative Aspects of Remittances, Comparative Analysis of Albania and Macedonia

Abstract

The issue of emigration is a very important concern for Albania and Macedonia due to the fact that a high percentage of their population has left the countries in the last two decades, making these two countries one of the countries with the highest emigration percentage flows in the world. Migrant remittances are an increasingly important source of income for both countries. For these two economies, remittances are the largest type of international financial inflow and are larger than either capital inflows or official development assistance. These remittance inflows have allowed domestic consumption and investment to be substantially higher than what would have been possible otherwise and have contributed significantly to the developmental prospects of these two economies. In addition, the outflow of labor from these economies has helped to relieve chronically high unemployment which has characterized them since the transition process began in the early 1990. This paper analyses the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the remittances flows and highlight migration issues that are of specific context for Albania and Macedonia, respectively.