COVID-19 and Remittances in Africa

The spread of Covid-19 and 'stay at home' measures in response to it are dramatically reshaping global societies and economies. This report contributes to understanding the potential economic implications of the COVID-19 crisis by focusing on its implications for migrant remittances in Africa. Large declines in remittance inflows could affect the capacity of many African countries to address and exit from the crisis.

The report describes macro-economic indicators (remittance flows and their relation to GDP) and analyzes microdata from the 2016-2018 Afrobarometer survey, which produces nationally representative samples of 1200 observations per country. It 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.