Sat, 17 Jun 2017 11:16:31 +0000
By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
ZAMBIA is among the seven African countries with high cost of sending money from the United Kingdom (UK) with an average cost of £120 (approximately K1,000), this is according to the Financial Sector Deepening Zambia (FSDZ).
Other countries mentioned are Eritrea, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Gambia.
FSDZ Zambia chief executive officer, Betty Wilkinson, said about £7 million was remitted each year by 30,897 Zambians living in the UK but at a high cost.
“In Zambia, £7 million is sent each year by 30,897 Zambians living in the UK. The average cost of sending £120 from the UK to Zambia is 13 percent, one of the highest average costs in the region, and almost twice as much as sending money to neighbouring Zimbabwe, where it costs just 7 percent,” she said.
Ms Wilkinson said the survey conducted by the Financial Sector Deepening Africa on “Reducing costs and scaling up UK to Africa remittances through technology” indicated that the UK was generally regarded as a competitive remittances market.
“It’s more expensive to send money to Africa than anywhere else in the world. But it doesn’t have to be like that. The way we stay in touch, do our shopping, and even the ways in which some of us find love, have all gone digital.
“Yet, for the vast majority of people sending money home to friends and family in Africa, they are still doing it the way they have always done it: in cash,” she said.
According to the report published recently, sending money to Eritrea, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Gambia from the UK was relatively expensive compared with the global average and other countries in the African region.
“The average cost of sending money from the UK to Africa is above average at 9.4 percent of the send amount. Prices are more competitive where volumes are large,” reads the report.
It also indicated that the total average cost for sending £120 from the UK into Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe were on average less than 7 percent of the send amount.
It also argued that existing technology – like regional automated clearing houses, remittance payment processing hubs and aggregators – could all make sending money from the UK to Africa much cheaper.
