The World Banks’ 2021 Migration and Development Report has shown that Nigeria remains in the number one position as the top remittance recipient in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020.
The report revealed that the country received 17.2bn dollars as remittances, while Ghana was the number two recipient of remittance in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020.
According to the record, despite the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, remittances to Ghana increased by 5% to US$3.6 billion .
The World Bank document stated that apart from Nigeria which saw a significant decline in remittances, foreign inflows to the continent shot up by 2.3%.
Despite the decline, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, was still the number one recipient of remittance. Ghana came second, with 3.6bn dollars and Kenya third with 3.1bn dollars.
“Remittance flows to the region were estimated to have declined by 12.5% in 2020. The decline was almost entirely due to a 27.7% decline in remittance flows to Nigeria, which alone accounted for over 40% of remittance flows to the region.”
“Excluding Nigeria, remittance flows to Sub-Saharan African increased by 2.3 percent, demonstrating resilience at a time of crisis. Indeed, strong remittance growth was reported in Zambia (37%), Mozambique (16%), Kenya (9%), and Ghana (5%)”, the report added.
