International Migrants Day celebrated this Friday gave rise to an Ipsos-RMDA survey carried out from July 23 to August 7 on remittances from Africans living in France to their countries of origin. Funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, this study, carried out among 500 people “from African diasporas in France, at least 75% of whom sent money, especially to sub-Saharan Africa, ”reveals that funds transferred to Africa by the diaspora in France have fallen by 25% this year. The explanation: the weakening of migrant workers by the health crisis.
A 25% drop in transfers
“In 2020, the volume of money transfers from diasporas fell despite a greater effort made by a third of the senders,” said the study in question. The results therefore show a drop of nearly 25% although in the first half of the year 80% of regular senders continued to transfer funds, sending on average more than 1,300 euros per year.
“The health situation has thus accentuated the fragility of some of these workers, caught between the drop in their income and the strong demands of the family in the country”, we told AFD, quoted by the ‘AFP. Diaspora remittances, she continues, represent “essential sources of income for many countries in Africa”, such as in Senegal where they represent 12.8% of GDP. “These amounts are also higher than official development aid, even when informal transfers, which are also substantial, are not taken into account. ”
Confirmation of a trend already recorded by the World Bank
The results of these studies confirm the trend outlined by a World Bank report published at the end of April, which estimated that remittances to poor countries would fall by 20% this year under the effect of the pandemic. According to the World Bank, these sums, which can represent up to a third of the economy of some poor countries, should stand at 445 billion dollars in 2020, against 554 billion in 2019. This fall, the most important of recent history, is “largely due to a decline in income and employment of migrant workers, who tend to be more vulnerable (…) during an economic crisis in a host country”, explained the institution.
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