Kenyans in the Diaspora Sent Home Ksh 272 Billion in 2018

Kenya’s diaspora remittances have had a 75-billion-shilling increase, from 196 billion shillings in 2017 to 272 billion shillings in 2018.

The increase, according to the 2019 Migration and Development report from World Bank, is equivalent to over three percent of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In Uganda, remittances were up from116.6 billion shillings ($1.166 billion) to 124.5 billion shillings ($1.245 billion) making up 4.5 percent of the country’s GDP.

In Tanzania, remittances remain much smaller at 43 billion shillings ($430 million), an increase of 2.5 billion shillings ($25 million) on the previous year and now making up 0.8 percent of its GDP.

Across Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole remittance grew almost 10 percent to 4.6 trillion ($46 billion) in 2018.

In terms of remittances as a share of GDP, Comoros has the largest share, followed by the Gambia, Lesotho, and Senegal.

The global average cost of sending 20 thousand shillings ($200) remained high, at around seven percent in the first quarter of 2019, despite the fact that reducing remittance costs to three percent by 2030 is a global target under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The cost of remittances was the lowest in South Asia, at five percent, while Sub-Saharan Africa continued to have the highest average cost, at 9.3 percent.

Remittance costs across many African corridors and small islands in the Pacific remain above 10 percent.