DeniAfrica

EthioBlog reports on the rise in remittances to Ethiopia:

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) disclosed that private individual transfer of money through legal channels has been increasing steadily during the past three years, remittance for the concluded budget year jumping over 371 million USD. According to NBE, remittance for the stated years was 233.4 million,370.7 million and 371.6 million USD respectively. The transfer has subsequently shown 59.2 percent growth from the first year, it was pointed out.

The Vanguard reports on a presentation made by Nigeria’s former finance minister,Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala:

She challenged fund managers in the country to device means of tapping into “Nigeria’s money abroad”, either from money owned by Nigerians in diaspora which may be remitted for investments at home or money saved abroad by Nigerians otherwise called capital flight. She noted that though not backed by statistics, there is evidence of high levels of capital flight from the Nigerian economy partly due to lack of appropriate financing vehicles for domestic investors. The former Minister spoke at length on the need to stimulate economic transformation in Nigeria through venture capital, noting that Africa’s long-term development must be driven by economic growth from within, and this, she stated, requires private capital.