Africans in the Diaspora make huge remittances to their friends, kith and kin in the continent, annually. However, a new study by the World Bank shows that it is more expensive to send money to Africa than anywhere else in the world. It says that last year, immigrants sent $38 billion back home to Africa.
As expected, Nigeria accounts for the lion’s share of this with $21.9 billion, followed by Senegal with $2.2 billion and Ghana with $2.2 billion.
In the words of the African commentator, Ayo Johnson, who hails from Sierra Leone but is based in the UK, “The Africans in the Diaspora are making a lot of money and they are willing to share that money with the countries which they first came from. Remittances are going back to their host countries in huge, huge volumes.”
Although the total amount of remittances sent worldwide hit record levels last year, the World Bank found that this was not the case in Africa. However, more money was sent to the continent in 2017 than in 2016 when migrants remitted $34 billion.
Some observers believe the real sums sent to Africa are much higher than what is reported. This is because official data are unreliable or, at times, unavailable), and many African immigrants often prefer to use informal channels to send money home instead of patronizing Western Union and MoneyGram. To be sure, remittances have now become one of the most important external sources of finance for Africa.
Other studies have shown that remittances directly benefit the welfare of those receiving the money. In poorer regions and countries, such payments can often boost the chances of the receivers overcoming poverty or instability by providing basic necessities such as food, school fees, rent and health care.
Thousands of Africans have been known to use remittances to start good business ventures, build houses or buy vehicles.
