Remittances sent to Sub-Saharan Africa have increased by 2.2% in 2014, the World Bank estimates. Growth is expected to slow to 0.9% this year, and then bounce back to grow by as much as 3.8% in 2016 and 2017.
The money is crucial to many of the continent’s economies. In 2013, cash remitted by families outweighed Western aid, according to one analysis.
Nigeria saw $21 billion flow in—two-thirds of all diaspora remittances to the region. The money financed a third of the country’s imports in 2013. Africa’s most populous country is the fifth largest recipient of remittances in the world, following India, China, Philippines and Mexico.
