Kanni Wignaraja is U.N. assistant secretary-general and director of the U.N. Development Program’s Asia and the Pacific bureau.
In many developing countries today, remittances — projected to reach $1 trillion annually before 2030 — already dwarf foreign investments and international aid as primary inflows of cash. Yet remittances are often overlooked in broader discussions on development financing, as they have been seen more as a direct injection to personal household income and hence an end in themselves.
