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Remittances into Ghana shoot up despite impact of COVID-19 on jobs abroad

Data from the Bank of Ghana made available to Citi Business News shows that the flow of remittances into the country went up marginally within the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2019 despite the impact of COVID-19 on jobs both home and abroad.

The remittances for the first half of the year stands at $2.3 billion as compared to $D2.1 billion in the same period last year.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in the latter part of 2019, the virus has claimed over 800 thousand lives globally, out of over 23 million cases, although over 16 million infected people have also recovered.

The impact of the disease has been very severe as almost every sector has had its share of the ravaging virus, and the transfer of remittances is no exception.

A remittance refers to money that is sent or transferred to relatives or acquaintances back in a person’s home country via a wire transfer, electronic payment system, mail, draft, or cheque.

In Ghana, just like many developing countries, in particular, remittances are the most visible forms of immigrants or migrants’ economic contributions to the economies of their home countries.

At an economy-wide level, they form a substantial part of several countries’ GDP and help shore up foreign reserves. Prior to COVID-19, remittance flows proved relatively resilient.

But checks by Citi Business News amidst the COVID-19 pandemic indicate some changes in the state of remittance flow into the country.

An interaction with Ghanaians abroad showed that although jobs were generally lost in their host countries largely due to lockdown measures, affecting the flow of remittances, not everyone was badly hit.

These views show that obviously the COVID-19 pandemic had some impact on the flow of remittances. But data from the Bank of Ghana indicate that, for the first half of the year, the remittance inflows into the economy performed marginally well.

According to the Bank, the remittances stood at $2.3 billion as compared to $2.1 billion the same time last year.

Also, inward and outward remittances recorded USD 2.2 billion and USD452 million respectively.

Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiBuss

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