Remittances

The conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic has led to one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent years. In relation to the violence, half of the population has been displaced. Since the onset of the conflict, poverty levels have been exacerbated, food prices have soared and the Syrian pound has been severely devalued. Due to the Syrian economy’s contraction in recent years, remittances have served as a vital lifeline for Syrian households, alongside humanitarian aid. Despite how integral remittances are to sustaining lives, transfers to the country have been hindered through several political, economic, legislative and security-related changes. NAFS regularly assesses the underlying regulatory and macroeconomic dynamics shaping the flow of remittances from major sending countries to the Syrian Arab Republic and the dynamics of remittances inside Syria. This analysis is used to propose policy alternatives for facilitating access to remittances for Syrian families. NAFS published a series of studies under the project “Syrian Remittances: Dynamics, Volume and the Future”, exploring transformations in the political economy of remittance flows and taking an in-depth look at the contexts in which remittances are sent, received and used. Besides the considerations of different perspectives on individual, meso and macro-levels, NAFS considers case studies on the volume, dynamics and future of remittances in Jordan, Turkey and Germany to provide further context-specific insights.