The World Bank estimates that migrant workers within Africa send remittances in excess of $14 billion dollars each year, and in 2018 intra-African remittances represented 20% of global remittance flows according to Ecobank Group.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) agreement, which promotes intra-African trade and regional integration is fuelling intra-continental movement of people. As such, an online international money transfer company, WorldRemit, predicts that 2020 will see increased intra-African remittances.
Migrant workers are no longer just travelling to developed nations for work (traditional south to north migration patterns), opportunities lie closer to home.
Between 2015 and 2019, intra-African migrants grew from 16 million to 19 million. During the same period, migration out of the African continent only increased from 16 to 17 million.
Offline intra-African remittances problematic
This new trend of south to south migration does not change the desire to send money home, yet the vast majority of remittances are still sent ‘offline’. This informal remittance industry in Africa is estimated to be between two and ten times the size of the formal market.
Money is taken to and collected from a physical agent, which can be inconvenient and usually subject to high fees. Africa has the highest costs for remittances globally, averaging 9% for $200 transaction compared to the global average of 7%. This is far from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of 3% by 2030.
However, with over 122 million users of mobile money services in Africa, and smartphone connections forecasted to grow to 636 million in 2022, hitting the SDG is likely to depend on building the right infrastructure to support an increasingly mobile population.
WorldRemit has built an extensive international money transfer service across the continent. Through partnering with mobile money providers, banks and cash pick up locations, such as Vodacom Tanzania, Wizzall of Senegal and Tigo in Ghana.
The network and services will continue to grow to meet the increasing needs of hardworking and generous migrants who want a cost-effective, convenient and secure way to send money home.
