Remittances to Africa: Senegal in the top 10
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Loading... - Chege Lumumba
- 20 May 2022
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According to the World Bank's latest Migration and Development Brief, remittances to low- and middle-income countries grew by 4.2% to a record high of $630 billion in 2021.
To Africa, these transfers amounted to 95 billion dollars. By region, North Africa received $46 billion, while for countries in sub-Saharan Africa, remittances stood at $49 billion.
By country, it is Egypt, with a diaspora of more than 10 million people in the world, which has consolidated its position as the first country to benefit from money transfers, attracting a record amount of 31.5 billion dollars in 2021, up 6.4%. Representing 7.9% of GDP in 2021, remittances from the Egyptian diaspora had become the country's largest source of foreign currency, ahead of exports. They also contribute strongly to the improvement of the country's foreign exchange reserves and to the improvement of the current account balance.
Far behind Egypt comes Nigeria. The most populous country in Africa (more than 206 million inhabitants, according to the WB) saw transfers from its strong diaspora established in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, etc., increase by 11, 2% to $19.2 billion. Morocco ranks third, with transfers reaching $10.4 billion in 2021, representing 7.8% of the country's GDP. Ghana and Kenya complete the top 5 with transfers of respectively 4.5 and 3.7 billion dollars.
Senegal ($2.7 billion), Tunisia ($2.2 billion), Zimbabwe ($2 billion), Algeria ($1.8 billion) and the DRC ($1.3 billion dollars) complete the top 10 of the main recipients of remittances from the African diaspora. Read More…
