Although Washington lifted restrictions on remittances and travel for Cuban Americans, US citizens still cannot visit the Caribbean island and the trade blockade is still in place.
Kaberuka concedes that some countries recovering from conflict will need international help, but says those steadily "graduating" thanks to remittances, foreign direct investment and access to capital markets – Ghana is a prime example – should become independent of aid in the not-too-distant future.
"There is no doubt that a decline in remittances will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and erode the gains Somalia has made in recent years".
Proposals by the last US bank specialising in money transfers to close the accounts of companies transferring cash between the US and Somalia will have a devastating effect on the millions of Somalis who rely on remittances to survive.
Those left behind by migrants get all sorts of benefits, such as remittances each year worth perhaps $300 billion - dwarfing the annual aid budgets of the 22 richest countries (of about $100 billion a year).
One of the debates at the third international conference on financing for development will be how remittances can be formalised to support development, such as through increased transparency and competition, making use of new technologies, launching a global non-profit platform and setting a target to lower the cost of sending money.
It offers no alternatives (why can't the Federal Reserve be used for transfers?), and no useful guidance about how existing remittances could meet its exacting standards.
Remittances from these migrant labourers are estimated to account for 52% of GDP, according to World Bank data.
Remittances from the Somalian diaspora amount to $1.2bn-$1.2bn-$1.6bn, which is roughly 50% of the country's gross national income, and on which 40% of the population relies for survival.
The move was intended to prevent funding of terrorist groups operating in east Africa, but has sparked alarm among development experts by also cutting off an estimated $215m in annual remittances to Somali families from their relatives in the US.
"Every time a bank closes, the media asks, 'What's the impact?' You tell them it's serious, but the remittances don't stop flowing, so they don't see the immediate impact – they think we're exaggerating.
