Immigrant remittances to their native lands by persons living in the United States dropped 13 per cent last year to $173,000,000, according to a Department of Commerce statement. Almost every country received some of this amount the largest total going to Italy.
A marked increase in remittances to Russia was noted.
Remittances during the year, however, were about 13 per cent under those of the previous year. The amount is 30 per cent below the estimate for 1929.
The comparatively small decline in the funds sent abroad during 1931, as compared with the previous year, apparently was due, according to the bulletin, to three more or less unrelated factors. The first of these was the large number of aliens who left the country during the year, many of whom carried accumulated savings with them to aid in the support of friends and relatives in distress abroad. The sharp depreciation of certain foreign currencies during the latter part of the year, which increased the foreign value of the American dollar in those countries, and the marked increases in remittances to Soviet Russia, were also important factors in keeping the decline at a low level.
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