{"id":24398,"date":"2020-04-10T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T12:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricajournal.com\/?p=24398"},"modified":"2020-04-13T12:16:16","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T12:16:16","slug":"in-africa-covid-19-crisis-puts-squeeze-on-millions-who-rely-on-remittances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricajournal.com\/in-africa-covid-19-crisis-puts-squeeze-on-millions-who-rely-on-remittances\/","title":{"rendered":"In Africa, COVID-19 Crisis Puts Squeeze on Millions Who Rely on Remittances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NAIROBI – When the\ncoronavirus began hitting Western economies, it hurt the economies of African\ncountries, too \u2013 not only because of a loss in trade and tourism, but also due\nto a loss in remittances.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of thousands\nof African families depend on money sent home by relatives working in North\nAmerica, Europe and elsewhere. The safety net for millions of people is now\nthreatened, and some families fear for the worst.
\n    
\nFatuma Salah is a Somali national living at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.\nThe mother of six says she closely monitors any message that comes to her\nphone.
\n 
\n\u201cEach time I receive a message alert, I think it\u2019s a money transfer to my\naccount, but it’s not. I was expecting to receive money from my family, it\u2019s\nthe 10th day of the month. I haven\u2019t received anything yet,\u201d she said.
\n    
\nSalah depends financially on her mother and brother who live in the United\nStates. But both have lost their jobs and are staying indoors due to the\nCOVID-19 pandemic.
\n 
\nIn 2018, Africans received $82 billion in remittances from abroad, according to\nthe Washington-based Brookings Institution.
\n 
\nRemittances amount to 5% of GDP in at least 13 African countries. For some,\nlike tiny Lesotho, they amount to 23% of its annual income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With stay-at-home orders throwing millions\nout of work in Western countries, millions of Africans are feeling the\npinch.   
\n 
\nAdhieu Achuil, a South Sudanese student studying in Kenya, says she is afraid\nshe might end up homeless, just like her neighbors.
\n    
\n\u201cIf it continues for two to three months, I don\u2019t know what is going to happen,\nnot only to me, to the people I know who are staying in Nairobi, who are being\nsupported by their relatives or husbands in the USA. At the moment, we have\npeople who are staying at public schools since they cannot afford to pay rent,\u201d\nAchuil said.
\n 
\nAbdirashid Duale, the head of Dahabshiil, one of Somalia’s biggest money\ntransfer services, says his company has seen a reduction in the number of\npeople sending money to Africa.
\n   
\n\u201cWe have seen less money going to Africa, but of course, the current crisis has\nimpacted the community we serve. We are sorry a lot of people in the diaspora\nhave got the virus, a lot of families are not helping the way they used to\nhelp. These remittances, poor people rely on it, whether they are in refugee\ncamps, whether they are paying school fees or food,\u201d he said.
\n    
\nDuale, whose company operates in at least 40 countries in Africa, calls on the\nfinancial institutions and governments to make sending and receiving money easy\nbecause it saves lives.
\n 
\n\u201cWe would like the international governments, European governments, UK\nfinancial institutions to help so that [the] community [which] has access to\nbanking, the company, like Dahabshil, has full access to the commercial banks\nso that remittances that are going to Africa will not be stopped, will continue\nto reach people safely,\u201d Duale said.
\n    
\nThe United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said last month Africa\nneeds $100 billion to combat the virus and support its vulnerable citizens and\neconomies.\n\nSource: Voice of America\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI – When the coronavirus began hitting Western economies, it hurt the economies of African countries, too \u2013 not only because of a loss in trade and tourism, but also due to a loss in remittances.   Hundreds of thousands of African families depend on money sent home by relatives working in North America, Europe … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nIn Africa, COVID-19 Crisis Puts Squeeze on Millions Who Rely on Remittances - South Africa Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southafricajournal.com\/in-africa-covid-19-crisis-puts-squeeze-on-millions-who-rely-on-remittances\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Africa, COVID-19 Crisis Puts Squeeze on Millions Who Rely on Remittances - South Africa Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NAIROBI – When the coronavirus began hitting Western economies, it hurt the economies of African countries, too \u2013 not only because of a loss in trade and tourism, but also due to a loss in remittances.   Hundreds of thousands of African families depend on money sent home by relatives working in North America, Europe ... 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