Zim diaspora official remittances up by 45%- Mangudya

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya says official remittances from the diaspora have increased by 45% during the January-September period compared to last year, reaching US$657.7 million.

He said this has been as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictive measures which have forced Zimbabweans outside the country to send cash back home via official money transfer channels.

Sometime this year, the country recorded a 33 percent increase in Diaspora remittances to US$466,2 million, this was as at July 31, 2020 compared to US$349,7 million at the same time last year, according to Mangudya.

This came despite the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has crippled the global economy and rendered millions of migrant workers jobless.

Meanwhile, the World Bank had predicted that remittance inflows to Sub Saharan African countries will drop by 23,1 percent from US$48 billion in 2019 to US$37 billion in 2020 in the wake of the Covid-19 economic crisis.

-Zwnews