Migrants working abroad are often ineligible for welfare payments. Many are sent packing if they lose their jobs
spreads, so does hardship. A partial lockdown in Uganda has forced Barbara Nakyewa to close her hair salon in Kampala, the capital. Half a world away, in Philadelphia, her husband’s work as a lorry driver has dried up. He used to send home about $80 a month. Now he has not a cent to spare. Each morning Ms Nakyewa cooks porridge for her five children from a dwindling bag of maize, hoping for a government food handout.
Remittances are falling sharply across Africa. At one payments company, transfers from Britain to east Africa may have fallen by 80%. Another has seen flows from Italy to Africa drop by 90%. The effects are painful. Remittances bring much-needed cash directly to millions of families. They are also one of the continent’s main sources of foreign currency. In 2018 officially recorded remittances were worth $46bn in sub-Saharan Africa, far more than foreign direct investment of $32bn that year.
Sending money has been made tougher, too. Most payments still begin with cash being dropped off in person, often at a corner shop that doubles as a money agent. Many of these shops are now closed. Picking up the cash in Africa is harder because of lockdowns there.
The virus causes trouble in other surprising ways. Many money-transfer firms routinely fly stacks of banknotes via the Middle East to their African agents. They cannot send the money through the banking system since many Western banks refuse to transact with African remittance firms because of onerous American anti-money-laundering regulations. This is one reason why remittances to Africa are more expensive than elsewhere, with fees of about 9% of the transaction against 5% globally.
With planes grounded, bundles of banknotes are piling up in remittance shops around the rich world. One operator says that he will have to suspend his business if planes do not soon start flying again. Empty skies also mean informal remittance flows, often carried by passengers, are shrivelling. Bankers in Somalia, where remittances are worth 23% ofHow far remittances fall depends chiefly on the severity of the downturn.
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