Grand Rapids Economic Forecast 2006

Our latest survey forecast for the greater Grand Rapids economy (Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon, and Allegan Counties) was conducted in November 2005. • Business Confidence has suffered a marginal decline and is expected to be flat for 2006 • Employment growth is expected to be very modest, at best 0.5% for 2006 • Overall sales are expected to grow at a rate comparable to last year, around 3% for 2006 • Exports continue to be a bright spot; expected growth is 5% for 200

International Migration, Remittances and its Macroeconomic Impact on Indian Economy

This paper tried to study the impact of remittances on various macroeconomic and developmental aspects for the Indian economy. For this, the data regarding remittances and some of the macroeconomic variables like GDP, PFCE, GDFC, savings, FDI, FII, export, import and balance of trade deficit etc have been analyzed for the period 1971-2008. The study shows that remittances have been consistently increasing at very fast rate for the last 15 years which have significant implications on the above mentioned macroeconomic variables. Through this study, the importance of remittances as a source of external development finance has been discussed. At last, some of the regulatory frameworks governing the flow of remittances have also been discussed.