From Uche Usim Abuja
Despite the destabilising effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigeria and other low and medium-income countries recorded strong remittance flows, a data released by the World Bank has shown.
According to the global bank, the inflow of remittances actually defied its earlier predictions and showed huge resilience against the pandemic.
The World Bank said: “Despite COVID-19, remittance flows remained resilient in 2020, registering a smaller decline than previously projected. Officially, recorded remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries reached $540 billion in 2020, just 1.6 per cent below the 2019 total of $548 billion, according to the latest Migration and Development Brief”
The bank added that the decline in recorded remittance flows in 2020 was smaller than the one during the 2009 global financial crisis (4.8 per cent).
“It was also far lower than the fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to low and middle-income countries, which, excluding flows to China, fell by over 30 per cent in 2020. As a result, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries surpassed the sum of FDI ($259 billion) and overseas development assistance ($179 billion) in 2020”, the World Bank added.
