Back in April, the World Bank forecasted that remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa would take a 20% dip. The reasoning behind this was of course because of the impact that COVID-19 has had on the incomes of those who are working abroad. Job losses have been a feature of the pandemic and all of that was going to play a part in money inflows from the diaspora.
Well, it seems like that hasn’t been the case if we look at Zimbabwe in isolation. Remittance figures for the country have been growing steadily over the year. According to the RBZ’s latest figures, money from the diaspora has grown by 48% in the last 10 months:
| Month | 2020 (in US$) | 2019 (in US$) | % Change |
| January | 60 607 249 | 44 567 757 | 36% |
| February | 69 230 034 | 41 788 076 | 66% |
| March | 61 172 535 | 62 414 369 | -2% |
| April | 30 920 048 | 49 227 045 | -37% |
| May | 66 815 291 | 53 896 272 | 24% |
| June | 85 849 311 | 46 525 102 | 85% |
| July | 91 853 269 | 51 255 846 | 79% |
| August | 92 935 172 | 51 493 734 | 80% |
| September | 98 384 807 | 52 538 456 | 87% |
| October | 103 084 503 | 59 818 518 | 72% |
| Total | 760 752 217 | 513 515 183 | 48% |
From the above figures, there was a contraction in March and July which would have indicated that 20% decline the World Bank alluded to. However from then on the numbers have been very impressive, this year’s figures are on course to being the best since 2016:
| Year | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020(October) |
| Total Individual Remittances (US$) | 838 million | 939 million | 776 million | 699 million | 619 million | 636 million | 761 million |
It’s possible the informal channels of sending money are limited at this time and so people are forced to use more formal channels