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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 defied its earlier predictions and showed huge resilience against the pandemic.
‘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 percent below the 2019 total of $548 billion, according to the latest Migration and Development Brief,’ the World Bank said.
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 percent).
‘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 percent 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.
