‘This means, for the first time in the 21st century, foreign workers abroad are sending money back home in amounts greater than all the investment coming from countries and corporations into those lower and middle-income countries – as well as the total amount of official aid.’

Yet that huge sum of money, much needed as it is, can only do so much good back home. ‘The government is unable to pool all that capital and put it towards big infrastructure projects that might benefit wider sections of the population,’