Remittances are a crucial financial inflow for most rural African households, with around US$94 billion received in 2021 from African migrants around the world. Although remittance transfer costs have fallen over the last years, the African remittance market remains the most expensive, with an average cost - to and within Africa - of 7.83 per cent of the amount sent against the global average of 6 per cent. The average cost to send US$ 200 to Kenya almost halved in the last ten years, from 13 per cent in 2011 to 8 per cent at the start of 2021.
Although Kenya's mobile money market is considered to be very advanced, the intra-African mobile money transfers are more expensive than the digital ones from outside the continent. This is with the exception of a few countries.
The MobileRemit Africa Report provides a framework to help countries identify data gaps, measure how enabling their policies are and the operating market environment for mobile-enabled remittances. The report particularly highlights that average digital remittance cost to a mobile wallet in Kenya, from a developed country, was 3 per cent, close to the SDG 10 target. In addition, despite being ranked first in Africa, Kenya has room to improve the enabling environment and foster social inclusion.
Join us as we launch the report and unpack the ranking.
- What: Launch of the MobileRemit Africa Report
- When: 16 June 2022, Thursday
- Time: 8:00 - 12.30 pm (5 GMT)
- Where: UN Office, Gigiri, Nairobi
