Measures of Workers’ Remittances in Italy Rita Cappariello Banca d'Italia - Research Department Balance of payments Unit

Institutional aspects

Banca d’Italia Ufficio Italiano dei Cambi Credit System Statistics Committee BANCA D’ITALIA Credit System Information Department Research Department Banks’ Stock Data Statistics Division BOP Unit UFFICIO ITALIANO DEI CAMBI Statistics Department Securities Database and Coding System (ISIN) Division Nonbank data input Division Nonbank data output Division MFI data input Unit MFIs data output, International banking and BOP/IIP compilation Division

Type of collection system Statistics based on data reported by banks through the International Transaction Reporting System (ITRS) to the UIC. Banks are required to report transactions performed for their own account and for accounts of their customers (data transmitted within the framework of the ‘Matrice Valutaria’ or MV) Non-banks are required to report their own cross-border transactions, directly or through the resident banks (data transmitted within the framework of the ‘Comunicazione Valutaria Statistica’ or CVS) In accordance with the rules in effect from January 2002 for the European Monetary Union countries, the minimum threshold for these flows to be recorded is euro.

Compensation of employees This item covers gross earnings of employees for work performed for residents of other economies, including employers' contributions to social security schemes. The data are based on receipts and payments related to wages and salaries and on expenditures by foreign embassies in Italy or Italian embassies abroad and are obtained mainly from the cross border transaction reports. These data are supplemented with estimates based on information from the OECD on the tax and social security system in member countries. Further adjustments are made, on the credit side only, since an estimated proportion of remittances from abroad is attributed to wages and salaries earned by Italian employees.

Workers’ remittances The data are collected from the cross border transaction reports. On the credit side a portion of flows recorded as remittances is allocated to compensation of employees.

Magnitude of flows

The opinion of a charitable organisation The actual magnitude of these flows are likely to be higher than the ones recorded by the balance of payments statistics. According to the Caritas the flows of workers’ remittances are about twice the ones reported by the official data because of an extensive use of ‘informal channels’ of transfer (e.g. ‘Money transfer companies’). The use of some estimation methods based on surveys of immigrant households seems to confirm this preposition.

Conclusions… Thresholds too high? Improve the information on informal channels? Use estimation methods from other sources?