Nigeria received $10 billion from remittances, followed a distant second by Sudan, with $3.2 billion; Kenya, $1.8 billion; Senegal, $1.2 billion; and South Africa, $1 billion.
The report also listed Nigeria among the top 10 emigration countries in the region alongside Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Sudan, Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa.
The report described remittances to developing countries as a resilient source of external financing during the recent global financial crisis, with recorded flows expected to reach $325 billion by the end of this year, up from $307 billion in 2009. The report added that worldwide, remittance flows are expected to reach $440 billion by the end of this year.
The true size of remittances, including unrecorded flows through formal and informal channels, is believed to be larger.