Migrant workers sent back more than $62.3bn to their families in Latin America and the Caribbean last year, a rise of 14 per cent on 2005.

The figures, which will be released this weekend at the annual conference of the Inter-American Development Bank, confirm that remittances have become one of the region's most important sources of foreign exchange, exceeding for the fourthyear in a row the combined total for foreign direct investment and overseas aid.