Pardee-CFLP-Remittances-TF-Report

associations, women’s groups, alumni associations, social clubs, and also faithbasedgroups. Although there is some evidence of tribal divisions within thediaspora, such cleavages are much less prominent among younger generations(The Advocates for Human Rights 2009).Evaluating Remittance Data AvailabilityAs a result of the conflict and poor record keeping, remittance data for Liberiais largely nonexistent before 2006, and the data made available by the CentralBank of Liberia since then has not been wholly consistent with the numbersproduced by other sources (see Tables 1–3, p. 76). A quick look at World Bankdata 4 reveals what can, at best, be described as erratic: deep troughs and steepspikes in remittance flows to Liberia despite what we know about the generalstability of these funds (Ratha 2005; Grabel 2008; UNDP 2011). Like remittancedata everywhere, the problem is one both of tracking and measurement.An underdeveloped (and user-unfriendly) financial sector limits remittance transmissionthrough official channels, and a lack of capacity to measure remittancesleads to data inconsistency. Such capacity problems tend to be particularly acutein post-conflict states like Liberia where mistrust and infrastructure inadequaciesare widespread. Informal or in-kind transfers, by definition, are not accountedfor in official estimates calculated from balance of payments residuals. Estimatesof informal remittance flows to Sub-Saharan Africa generally are an additional45–65 percent of formal flows—a proportion significantly higher than in otherregions (Freund and Spatafora 2005; Gupta et al. 2007). Given the nature of theseflows, information about informal remittances to Liberia is not readily available.It is known, however, that Liberia has a vibrant informal economy. This suggeststhat a large portion of the population either does not have access to, or trust,conducting business or transactions in the formal sector.Furthermore, up until the fifth edition of the International Monetary Fund’s Balanceof Payments Manual, remittance-related items were defined “in ways thatmade identification and analysis of remittances difficult for some data users”(IMF 2009:1). The changes in IMF/World Bank methodology have been intendedto be more inclusive and consistent. But these changes have also contributedconfusion in measurement despite best efforts to standardize the practice. The4 The World Bank uses official country data produced by the Central Bank of Liberia, which makes the inconsistenciesbetween the two sources a bit of an enigma. Discrepancies may be a result of definitional differences of“workers’ remittances,” “personal transfers,” and what is counted as such.Remittance Flows to Post-Conflict States: Perspectives on Human Security and Development 75