Lowering Remittance Transfer Costs: the Role Government and Central Banks
Background
In 2015, 30 million African migrants sent more than $66billion in remittances to Africa, supporting at least 120million family members back home. This is according to official data from the World Bank. However, data on African remittance flows are substantially understated due to the large scale of use of informal or unregulated channels, as a result of a combination of several factors, including the high cost of sending money to and within Africa. Indeed, despite significant achievement in lowering transfer costs, remittances to and within the continent remain the most expensive in the world by a substantial margin.
AU Member States, established the African Institute for Remittances (AIR) as a Specialized Technical Office of the African Union Commission, to among others work towards the reductions of remittances transfer costs; and leverage the potential impact of remittances on social and economic development in the continent. African and European leaders committed in Valletta, Malta in November 2015, as part of the sixteen priority initiatives to ‘Operationalize the African Institute for Remittances to serve as a focal point for all stakeholders in African remittances...’ by end 2016 with specific targets.
This high-level event with a panel of Ministers, experts from Ministries of Finance, Economic planning and Integration, Experts from central banks, development partners, representatives from private sector will be discussing the main avenue of contributing to the objectives of the AIR, latest developments in remittances and share the analysis of Send Money Africa.
The side event is open to all delegates. Time 9:00-11:00, 3rd of April 2016, Venue: Large Briefing Room (LBR)
For more details, please contact, maiyegunO@africa-union.org or kinfeh@africa-union.org