By Malorie Manaois
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant distress to families and economies worldwide, including to migrants and their remittances. Given the job losses and high rates of unemployment due to this virus, the World Bank had initially predicted remittances to decline by 20 per cent in 2020. However, for most receiving regions, this prediction has been contradicted by either steady or increased volume of remittances. In October 2020, the World Bank revised its predictions to 7 percent in 2020 and 7 percent in 2021, a total decline of 14 percent as a result of COVID-19.
Though the onset of the pandemic earlier in March 2020 saw the remittance flows…