1. Page 1 International Working Group on Improving Data on Remittances Interim Report Barbro Hexeberg Development Data Group World Bank

2. Page 2 Recap Formed in response to call by G8 Heads of State and G7 Finance Ministers (2004) International meeting in Jan 2005 Three key areas where users want improvements: estimation of aggregate remittance flows, bilateral flows, household survey data Key issues to address: improve definitions, compilation and reporting practice in BOP; guidance for conducting surveys

3. Page 3 Key problems Definitions and concepts inconsistently applied by countries Data collection systems may be incomplete (e.g. because of reporting thresholds for banks, informal flows) Largest outflows are from countries where remittances are relatively small in balance of payments Relatively large inflows are to countries where collection capacity may be weakest

4. Page 4 Mechanisms WB, IMF and UNSD working together Agreed to use existing TSG (and AEG and BOPCOM) for improving definitions Agreed to pursue development of better compilation methods through a new UN Statistical City Group Also interested in the work of CEMLA Interim report in November 2005 Final report in September 2006

5. Page 5 Progress Definitions improved through work of TSG Eurostat will host City Group (to be called Luxembourg Group) mid-2006; currently discussing composition Work on household surveys being done by World Bank and others, including guidance on sampling methods for surveys of remittance corridors