2023: World Bank report projects increased remittances to Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa
By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, Abuja
The World Bank Group (WBG) in a Migration and Development Brief (number 38) in the series), has predicted that there would be an increment in remittances to Nigeria and several West African countries.
According to the report titled Remittances Remain Resilient but are slowing, remittance flows to Sub-Saharan Africa reached $53 billion in 2022, a 6.1 per cent increase from 2021 because of a ‘strong growth’ of 16.3 per cent in 2021.
“Remittance flows to the region are projected to rise by 1.3 and 3.7 percent in 2023 and 2024 respectively. The projected moderate growth in remittances reflects the expected slowdown of economic growth from 2.6 per cent in 2022 to 0.7 per cent in 2023 in major developed countries where a large population of remittance senders live,” the WBG report stated.
The World Bank said that this increase to the region is backed by current incidents in several African countries like food insecurity, supply chain disruptions, severe droughts, floods and debt servicing difficulties. The World Bank report also said that most of these factors increased following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Remittance flows to Sub-Saharan Africa were nearly twice the size of Foreign Direct Investments, FDI, and relatively more stable in 2022. FDI flows to the region reached a historic high of $76 billion in 2021, driven primarily by a large corporate financial transaction in South Africa – a stock exchange between Naspers and Prosus,” the WB said.
A breakdown of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022 indicates that remittances to Ghana was 12 per cent to $4.7billion, Kenya 8.5 per cent to $4.1 billion, Tanzania 25 per cent to $0.7 billion, Uganda 17.3 per cent to $1.3 billion and Rwanda 21.2 per cent to $0.5 billion. Remittances to Nigeria in 2022 accounted for 38 per cent of total remittances to the Sub-region, an increase by 3.3 per cent to $20.1billion.
The Migration and Development Brief describes key developments in remittance flows that have occurred since the previous brief, which was published in November 2022. The World Bank makes these projections of remittance trends in the light of a slowing global economy, continued high inflation and increased interest rates, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in the Sudan.
Analysts say that the World Bank projection appears valid. Omoruyi Ebueku, former banker told NewsDirect that because most Nigerians live in some states where there are no capital projects, “Nigerians living in very robust economies often have a penchant to send monies to their relatives at home in Nigeria.
“I am not sure of the figures that the World Bank has put out but I do believe that with the pains that Nigerians would feel over the removal of fuel subsidy, there would be increases in remittances,” Mr Ebueku told NewsDirect.
