Africa received over $95 billion in remittances in 2024, with Nigeria, Egypt, and Morocco leading as top recipients, according to the State of Africa’s Infrastructure Report 2025 by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).
The inflow nearly matched total foreign direct investment (FDI) into the continent that year, underscoring the rising significance of diaspora contributions to African economies.
The report highlighted that, aside from 2024, remittances have consistently outpaced FDI, portfolio flows, and official development assistance in recent years—making them one of Africa’s most stable and dependable sources of external finance.
Nigeria continued to rank as a key remittance hub, driven by its large and engaged diaspora. The AFC described the surge in remittances as a turning point, offering a more structured and transparent link between African economies and offshore wealth, marking a shift from decades of capital flight.
“In 2024, Africa received over $95 billion in remittances from its global diaspora—an amount roughly equivalent to total FDI inflows to the continent that year. The largest recipients were Egypt, Nigeria, and Morocco, followed by a growing number of mid-sized economies with substantial emigrant populations.
“Remittances have proven to be a stable and resilient source of external finance, often outperforming portfolio flows and official development assistance in terms of consistency,” the report read in part.
According to the report, between 1970 and 2004, Africa lost over $420 billion to capital flight, much of it through informal and opaque channels. These losses, compounded by labour migration, weakened domestic investment capacity and disconnected African financial systems from wealth held abroad. The figures, cited from estimates by economists Léonce Ndikumana and James K. Boyce, covered 40 Sub-Saharan African countries.
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The AFC report sees today’s remittance boom as an opportunity to embed diaspora engagement more deliberately into national development strategies. While a large share of remittances goes toward household consumption, the presence of trusted financial channels is enabling more structured diaspora investments.
- One such tool is the diaspora bond. While countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Egypt have struggled with uptake due to weak regulatory frameworks, Nigeria’s $300 million diaspora bond issued in 2017 was fully subscribed—thanks to clear terms, credible oversight, and competitive yields. The bond represented 1.4% of the country’s remittance receipts that year.
The AFC also referenced earlier continental initiatives, including the African Diaspora Investment Fund and a proposed African Institute for Remittances. Though progress on these fronts has been slow, the report argues that the groundwork for formal diaspora engagement is in place.
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Nairametrics earlier reported that Nigeria recorded $282.61 million in direct diaspora remittances in Q1 2024, a 6.28% drop from the $301.57 million recorded in Q1 2023. The data, sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), covers remittances processed through international money transfer operators (IMTOs).
- Monthly trends showed mixed performance:
- January 2024 saw a 75% year-on-year surge to $138.56 million, up from $79.19 million in January 2023.
- February 2024 fell sharply to $39.15 million, down over 53% from $83.76 million in February 2023.
- March 2024 also declined to $104.91 million, a 24% drop from $138.63 million in March 2023.
Meanwhile, in March 2025, NiDCOM Chairman/CEO Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa disclosed that Nigerians abroad had remitted over $90 billion over the past five years to support national development.
Nigeria also remained the leading recipient of diaspora remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2023, accounting for around 35% of the region’s total inflows. According to a World Bank report, the country received approximately $19.5 billion in 2023, which was the highest in the region.
