Covid-19 and Remittances in Africa

This report examines the potential impact of Covid-19 on remittances and development in different African countries. The World Bank has forecast an unprecedented fall in remittances for 2020, removing a major source of income for many African countries and affecting their capacity to respond to and recover from the crisis. But it is unlikely to hit all countries and populations in the same way. This report shows in which countries people depend on remittances to get by, and where this dependence intersects with existing economic hardship and digital and financial exclusion. It does so through an analysis of macro-economic indicators (remittance flows and their relation to GDP) and the 2016-2018 Afrobarometer survey, which produces nationally representative samples of public opinion for 34 African countries.