The Euro crisis might cause a drop in funds sent by migrants to Africa, experts from African Union (AU) and the United Nations Commission for Africa said at the fifth joint meeting of the continent’s ministers of Finance and Economic Planning.
“The money sent by migrants represents half of the revenue of several households in developing countries. If the number of jobless people rises and revenues drop following the slowdown in economic activity, the money sent will probably drop,” the experts said at the preparatory proceedings of the meeting which opened on Monday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The amount sent to Africa actually dropped slightly, with the world economic crisis, from US$38.3 billion in 2009 as against US$41.1 billion in 2008, but rose again to US$39.7 billion in 2010.
The experts say that the economic problems facing the European Union will have negative impacts on employment and revenues all over the world, thus affecting the amount of money sent to other regions.
Projections by the World Bank, however, say that the amounts sent to Africa might increase over the next few years.
The fifth annual joint meeting of the Conference of Finance and Economic Planning ministers from the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa was due to end on Tuesday.
It brought together about 50 ministers and a dozen central bank governors
