Nigeria, others’ remittances may slow to $33bn –World Bank

Oversea remittances to Nigeria and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa are projected to slow to 0.9 per cent in 2015, amounting to $33 billion, according to a World Bank report. The study also says that global remittance volume is projected to reach $586 billion in 2015, though at a slower growth rate of 0.4 per cent due to economic conditions.

It is therefore expected to accelerate again to an estimated $636 billion in 2017. In figures released at the last Word Bank/ International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings in March this year, the World Bank had said that $21 billion (N4.2 trillion) was sent home to families and friends by Nigerians in the Diaspora, in 2014.

However, the growth of remittance is expected to slow this year, it said in its latest issue of Migration and Development Brief, released at the meetings. According to the report, officially recorded remittances to the developing world are expected to reach $440 billion in 2015, an increase of 0.9 per cent over the previous year.

Global remittances, including those to highincome countries, are projected to grow by 0.4 per cent to $586 billion. Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, also depends on remittances for foreign exchange. Money transfer from the west makes up the country’s second highest foreign exchange earner after oil. Nigeria is also Africa’s top remittance recipient.

The study said: “The top five migrant destination countries continue to be the United States, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while the top five remittance recipient countries, in terms of value of remittances, continue to be India, China, Philippines, Mexico and Nigeria. “Nigeria alone accounts for around twothirds of total remittance inflows to sub-Sahara Africa, but its remittances are estimated to have remained flat in 2014, at roughly $21 billion.

“Growth of remittances to the sub-Saharan Africa region is projected to slow to 0.9 per cent in 2015, amounting to $33 billion.

The regional growth in remittances in 2014 largely reflected strong growth in Kenya 10.7 per cent, South Africa 7.1 per cent and Uganda 6.8 per cent.” Meanwhile, experts say that mobile transfers and other forms of remittances, though growing at lower rate, presents huge potential for economic growth. Principal Associate, Mobile Money Africa, Mr. Emmanuel Okoegwale, while reacting to the World Bank figure, said that the strategy to unleashing the potential of remittances in the market is to enable low-cost remittances for Africans in order to encourage the sector’s growth.

To address the low remittance projection, he said, RemitAfrica 2015 Conference, holding in Lagos early November, this year, had been conceived to add the needed impetus, through dialogues and collaborations, to the growth of remittances in African nations.