Recent immigrants sending billions home

4 in 10 transfer cash out of country: StatsCan Linda Nguyen , Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 OTTAWA - Canadians send as much as $2 billion out of the country each year to friends and family in foreign countries, essentially pumping up overseas economies in a trend that one expert says is most likely not going to change. In a study released Wednesday, Statistics Canada says remittances by new immigrants alone account for up to 30 per cent of the gross domestic products of some developing countries, including Haiti, Lesotho, and Jordan. In Jamaica, the Philippines and the Dominican Republic, these money transfers account for as much as 20 per cent of their respective economies. And new arrivals from Southeast Asia and the Caribbean were more likely than any other groups of immigrants to send money... [read full story]