Nigeria accounted for about 35 per cent of diaspora remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with the country receiving $19.5 billion out of the region’s $54 billion inflows last year.
World Bank’s latest Migration and Development Brief released at the weekend however showed that remittance flows to Sub-Saharan Africa recorded a slight decrease of 0.3 per cent.
Remittances supported the current accounts of several African countries that were dealing with food insecurity, drought, supply chain disruptions, floods, and debt-servicing difficulties.
Continuing, the bank said remittance flows were nearly 1.5 times the size of Foreign Direct Investment flows in 2023, and relatively more stable.
The largest recipients of remittances in the region during 2023—measured in dollar terms—include Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.
Remittances have become the most important foreign exchange earner in several countries.
The regional growth in remittances in 2023 was largely driven by strong remittance growth in Uganda, 15 per cent to $1.4 billion; Rwanda, 9.3 per cent to $0.5 billion; Kenya, 2.6 per cent to $4.2 billion and Tanzania, with four per cent to $0.7 billion.
Remittances to Nigeria, accounting for around 35 percent of total remittance inflows to the region, decreased by 2.9 per cent to $19.5 billion.
