17MILLION AFRICANS LEFT CONTINENT IN 2017 IN SEARCH OF GREENER PASTURES
The report said remittances travelling back home from migrant workers both outside and inside Africa rose – on average – from 38.4 billion dollars between 2005 to 2007, to 64.9 billion dollars, during the two-year period up to the end of 2016.
Penpushing also reports, according to the report, that, therefore, remittances accounted for over half of the capital flows within the continent. Likewise, migrants contributed nearly 20 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Côte d’Ivoire according to figures from 2008, and 13 per cent in Rwanda (2012 figures).
The lead author of the report, Junior Davis, said it provided evidence of the “intimate correlation” between migration and trade – two sides of the same coin, adding that, “Africa is on the cusp of tremendous change,.
He noted the recently agreed African Continental Free Trade Area and the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, stating that,“In this context the report contributes to a better understanding of the implications of intra-African migration for the continent’s socio-economic transformation,”
Davis said, alongside the numbers of migrants moving and working within Africa, the continent also has some of the highest number of people forced from their homes due to conflict or natural disasters.
The report stated that, on top of the development gains lost at home, there is a significant economic and social burden faced by host countries, leaving many migrants dependent on international humanitarian aid
