This represent an immense contribution to the Nigerian economy, especially during this difficult global economic times. I only wished that more than half of these funds were going into investment in Nigeria.

In any case, the next time some fool complains about the contributions of Nigerians in the disapora - you know where to point them.

By Stanley Oronsaye
November 11, 2010 01:38AM
Nigeria is ranked first among the top 10 remittance recipients in 2010 in sub Saharan Africa, according to the World Bank’s latest Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011 released on Tuesday.

Nigeria received $10 billion (about N1.5 trillion) from remittances, followed a distant second by Sudan, with $3.2 billion; Kenya, $1.8 billion; Senegal, $1.2 billion; and South Africa, $1 billion. The report also listed Nigeria among the top 10 emigration countries in the region alongside Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa.

The report described remittances to developing countries as a resilient source of external financing during the recent global financial crisis, with recorded flows expected to reach $325 billion by the end of this year, up from $307 billion in 2009. The report added that worldwide, remittance flows are expected to reach $440 billion by the end of this year.

The true size of remittances, including unrecorded flows through formal and informal channels, is believed to be larger.

Official data for the months of January-August 2010 indicate that the Central Bank supplied approximately 27.1 percent of the $52 billion of inflows to Nigeria’s foreign exchange market, with “autonomous sources” oil companies, international institutions, and remittances accounting for the rest.

Source of financial support

“Remittances are a vital source of financial support that directly increases the income of migrants’ families,” said Hans Timmer, director of development prospects at the World Bank.

“Remittances lead to more investments in health, education, and small business. With better tracking of migration and remittance trends, policy makers can make informed decisions to protect and leverage this massive capital inflow, which is triple the size of official aid flows,” Mr. Timmer said.

Christian Udechukwu, West Africa regional director, Money Transfer International (MTI), a money transfer firm, said more remittances inflow into the region can be achieved when regulators of countries, which have high numbers of Diaspora population, lower barriers on remittances from their countries. “These barriers are usually in terms of restrictions on minimum remittances, stiff documentation requirements, and outright refusal of permission to financial intermediaries to license companies who are keen to serve the diaspora remittances market,” Mr. Udechukwu.

The World Bank report stated that officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries are estimated to increase by six percent to $325 billion in 2010. This marks a healthy recovery from a 5.5 percent decline registered in 2009.

“In line with the World Bank’s outlook for the global economy, remittance flows to developing countries are expected to increase by 6.2 percent in 2011 and 8.1 percent in 2012, to reach $374 billion by 2012,” the report said.

The top remittance sending countries in 2009 were the United States, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Russia, and Germany. Worldwide, the top recipient countries in 2010 are India, China, Mexico, the Philippines, and France. As a share of GDP, however, remittances are more significant for smaller countries - more than 25 percent in some countries.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Money/Finance/5641033-147/nigeria_gets_n1.5tr_in_remittances_.csp

I need some kind of education here

what exactly are these remittance figures? is it money given to us free or one that we borrowed?

violent:

I need some kind of education here

what exactly are these remittance figures? is it money given to us free or one that we borrowed?

I'm not sure how they distinguish between the two? I think all they do is look at the amount of cash flowing from outside Nigeria into it (through Western Union or the equivalents.)

BTW, just so you guys can understand how significant this figure is, assuming that the Wikipedia figure of 173 billion is accurate for the GDP of Nigeria, we are talking of approximately 5.5% of the GDP.

This is a nice chunk of change being infused into the economy from outside.

I'm suprised the UK is not one of the top countries where these funds are sent from ?

All we hear are figures and hardly see the effect, i still can't work into a bank to get a loan even though i qualify and still can only afford a used car.


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