Diaspora Gambians are the lifeblood of the Gambia’s economy contributing with their remittances to a large share of the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP).

Looking at remittances as a share of gross domestic product, the Gambia has the second largest share in Sub-Saharan Africa contributing over 250 million dollars annually, according to the World Bank’s latest Migration and Development Brief.

Comoros has the largest share in Sub-Saharan Africa. The other African countries in the top ten include Senegal, Nigeria, Cabo Verde, Liberia, Ghana, Togo and Zimbabwe.

The World Bank said on Monday that remittances to sub-Saharan Africa rose by nearly 10% to $46bn in 2018. This was an increase from the previous year, which had also been a record, it added.

In 2019, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are expected to reach $550 billion, to become their largest source of external financing, the bank said.

The global average cost of sending $200 remained high, at around 7 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, according to the World Bank’s Remittance Prices Worldwide database. Reducing remittance costs to 3 per cent by 2030 is a global target under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10.7. Remittance costs across many African corridors and small islands in the Pacific remain above 10 per cent.

Banks were the most expensive remittance channels, charging an average fee of 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2019. Post offices were the next most expensive, at over 7 per cent. Remittance fees tend to include a premium where national post offices have an exclusive partnership with a money transfer operator. This premium was on average 1.5 per cent worldwide and as high as 4 per cent in some countries in the last quarter of 2018.

On ways to lower remittance costs, Dilip Ratha, lead author of the Brief and head of KNOMAD, said, “Remittances are on track to become the largest source of external financing in developing countries. The high costs of money transfers reduce the benefits of migration. Renegotiating exclusive partnerships and letting new players operate through national post offices, banks, and telecommunications companies will increase competition and lower remittance prices.”