USA Africa Dialogue Series - Africans abroad remit $21 billion home

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From: Adey <adey45@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 6:05 PM
Subject: [TalkNigeria] Africans abroad remit $21 billion home
To: naijanet@googlegroups.com, naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com, talknigeria@yahoogroups.com, African <africanspolitics@yahoogroups.com>, NewnaijaPolitics@yahoogroups.com, Cameroon <camnetwork@yahoogroups.com>

 

Africans abroad remit $21 billion home Wednesday, 10 November 2010 00:00 By Bukky Olajide   Nigeria tops recipients' list 22 million leave sub-Saharan Africa REMITTANCE flows to sub-Saharan Africa will hit the $21.5 billion mark this year after a small decrease in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, according to Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, a World Bank publication that tracks documented private transfers of funds and migratory patterns around the world. The report shows that Africa-bound flows fell by about four per cent between 2008 and 2009, marking the first decrease since 1995. In absolute dollars, Nigeria is by far the top remittance recipient in Africa, accounting for an estimated US$10 billion in 2010, nearly half of all money sent to the continent. On Migration Trends, the report estimated that nearly 22 million sub-Saharan Africans have left the continent. Africa also has a higher intra-regional migration rate than the rest of the developing world, with three out of four African migrants living in another country in sub-Saharan Africa. In general, islands and fragile or conflict-afflicted states have the highest rates of skilled emigrants. According to it, about 11 per cent of Nigerians with a tertiary education live outside their country of birth. The top destination countries for migrants from Nigeria are the United States, the United Kingdom, Chad, Cameroun, Italy, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Spain, Sudan, and Niger. However, it is estimated that over one million people immigrated to Nigeria in 2010, primarily from Benin, Ghana, Mali, Togo, Niger, Chad, Cameroun, Liberia, Mauritania, and Egypt. "We estimate that recovery will continue over the next two years, with remittance flows to the continent possibly reaching about $24 billion by 2012," said Dilip Ratha, manager of the Migration and Remittances Unit at the World Bank. Ratha cautions that these numbers are gross underestimates, because millions of Africans rely on informal channels to send money home. Worldwide, remittance flows are expected to reach $440 billion by end-2010, up from $416 billion in 2009. About three-quarters of these funds, or $325 billion, will go to developing countries. The World Bank estimates that flows to these countries as a whole will rise further over the next two years, possibly exceeding $370 billion by 2012. Ratha said: "Remittances are a critical lifeline for families and entire communities across Africa, especially in the aftermath of the global crisis. The fact that remittances are so large, come in foreign currency, and go directly to households, means that these transfers have a significant impact on poverty reduction, funding for housing and education, basic essential needs, and even business investments." There is a pressing need to make it easier and cheaper to send and receive remittances in Africa. The average cost of sending money to Africa is more than 10 per cent, the highest among all the regions. The cost of sending money within Africa is even higher. This year's flows represent a slight increase over the previous year, when migrants sent home $9.6 billion. Other top recipients include Sudan ($3.2 billion), Kenya ($1.8 billion), Senegal ($1.2 billion), South Africa ($1.0 billion), Uganda ($0.8 billion), Lesotho ($0.5 billion), Ethiopia ($387 million), Mali ($385 million), and Togo ($302 million). As a share of gross domestic product, the top recipients in 2009 were: Lesotho (25 per cent), Togo (10 per cent), Cape Verde (nine per cent), Guinea-Bissau (nine per cent), Senegal (nine per cent), Gambia (eight per cent), Liberia (six per cent), Sudan (six per cent), Nigeria (six per cent), and Kenya (five per cent). Nationals who attended university and left their country the most are from Cape Verde (68 per cent), Gambia (63 per cent), Mauritius (56 per cent), Seychelles (56 per cent), Sierra Leone (53 per cent), Ghana (47 per cent), Mozambique (45 per cent), Liberia (45 per cent), Kenya (38 per cent), and Uganda (36 per cent). Africa's most dynamic migration corridors are Burkina Faso-Côte d'Ivoire (1.3 million migrants), Zimbabwe-South Africa (0.9 million), and Côte d'Ivoire-Burkina Faso (0.8 million). Others include Uganda-Kenya, Eritrea-Sudan, Mozambique-South Africa, Mali-Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo-Rwanda, Lesotho-South Africa, and Eritrea-Ethiopia. Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011 is the second edition of an initial volume issued in 2008. The Factbook relies on data publicly available from reliable sources. As a result, data on some important migration corridors - for example, from Zimbabwe to South Africa, are not adequately covered in the book.     The Guardian

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