PARIS, 3 March 2008 (IRIN) - Remittances from Comorans living abroad have long kept the home islands in the Indian Ocean afloat with financial flows that far outweigh official development aid (ODA), but spending on luxuries and lavish wedding parties has meant their contribution to development has been marginal.

A recent study by the African Development Bank (ADB) indicates that migrant remittances amounted to ?72 million in 2005, almost a quarter of Comoros' gross domestic product (GDP), one of the highest ratios in Africa.

"This corresponds to the current need of the population - many people are living on less than 1 euro per day. The population depends on them [the diaspora]; these remittances allow them to survive," Souleimane Mohamed Ahmed, Comoros' ambassador to France, told IRIN from Paris.

The impoverished archipelago is often characterised as heavily dependent on international community support, but with ODA at only 6.7 percent of GDP, money transfers from the diaspora would seem to be the real lifeline.

"This makes migrants the foremost fund providers," said the ADB study, Remittances by migrants - a development challenge, undertaken at the request of France's Inter-ministerial Committee for International Cooperation and Development. Almost one-third of Comoros' population is thought to be living in France, and 95 percent of all remittances to the three-island archipelago come from the former colonial power.

"The weight of remittances in the family budget [averaging from half to two-thirds] raises strategic issues in terms of the degree of dependence on the diaspora. Indeed, the survival of whole sections of the population, perhaps entire geographic regions [for example, Ngazidja, the main island, also known as Grand Comore] ... is highly dependent on migrant assistance," the report commented.

Where there is little hope that the government will be able to meet people's needs, "remittances have de facto become a substitute to the almost non-existent or largely non-operational social welfare."

No saving, no investment

Even though the volume of remittances far outweighs ODA, the development impact of these flows has been disappointing. "This is a relative comparison, since most remittances are sent directly to families for consumption ... the proportion actually invested or saved in the country of origin remains low," the ADB report said.

"The priority given to household consumption [essential goods and services] and health could be explained by the common denominator behind most cases of migration: improve the living standard of the migrant and his/her family. This motive is the umbilical cord linking migrants and their family."

But squandering

Specific socio-cultural practices often dictate spending, such as "the 'Society Wedding' [locally referred to as Grande Marriage: literally a grand wedding], which might well take place after the marriage, causing the squandering of considerable amounts of money - sometimes the savings of a lifetime," the report's authors remarked.

Elaborate, expensive public weddings, marked by conspicuous consumption, take place throughout the islands during July and August. The timing coincides with the European summer holiday season to allow those living abroad to come home for the occasion.

"My Grand Marriage cost me a lot! My house is part of it. I started building in 1985, with four rooms downstairs and two apartments on the first floor," Sidou, 57, a French government employee living in France but originally from Grande Comore, told IRIN.

Having a Grand Marriage, which can cost up to US$30,000 and last from one to three weeks, is usually reserved for the wealthy but attended by all, and the host families often feed entire communities.

"It used to [a practice] reserved for the eldest of the family, but so many people [from Comoros] are abroad, everyone can do it," said Mariama, 25, the youngest of nine siblings, who now lives in France but had her wedding on Grande Comore in 1998.

The occasion often places financial stress on the family. "People are making sacrifices; they go and see credit houses for the funding of the Grand Marriage."

She acknowledged that money spent on festivities did not lead to development. "The funding of the Grand Marriage is used mainly for food. We have to feed all the villages, and all the social classes from the villages and the neighbouring villages. You can't use this money for anything else."

World Bank figures for 2003 indicated that lush wedding ceremonies accounted for over half the expenditure of all remitted funds.

Still, any help is welcome

Comoros is one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), GDP has fallen by -0.5 percent annually since 1990 to $640 per capita in 2005. Figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development show ODA plunging from around $60 million a year in 1990 to $25 million in 2005; external debt is estimated at a whopping 72 percent of GDP.

Weak economic performance reflects inherent disadvantages, such as few natural resources, a shortage of arable land, high transport costs and a poor investment climate.

But years of political bickering and bubbling secessionism since independence from France in 1975 have done the most harm, seriously hampering development and wearing away standards of living. "For over 30 years since independence, the economy of Comoros has stagnated," said Opia Kumah, UNDP Resident Representative in the Comoros. "In many areas it has actually regressed."

The ADB report suggested that despite the very small percentage of diaspora contributions set aside for investment, the volume of total flows still warranted special attention: the funds "could be mobilised to supplement ODA by incorporating them into country programmes", and by encouraging consumption "remittances contribute to maintaining, indeed developing, economic activity."

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