Personal remittances flowing into Ghana increased by 9.5 percent in the first half of 2020, compared with inflows in the same period last year, the Bank of Ghana has said.
Despite the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic, remittances increased to 2.3 billion U.S. dollars, from January to June this year, up from 2.1 billion dollars for the same period last year, central bank sources quoted by local media have said.
The impact of COVID-19 has hit economies around the globe with job losses in many economies. At least 42,000 people had lost their jobs since the outbreak of the pandemic in March, while 770,000 had their incomes slashed.
Commenting, the Chief Executive Officer of SAMBED Consult Sam Bediako-Asante said the reported performance was surprising, looking at the COVID-19 situation around the globe.
“Almost all economies in the world were hit by this pandemic, which definitely would have affected people’s incomes and affect their ability to remit anyone,” the financial expert told Xinhua.
Although he conceded that some remittances would have occurred during the first quarter, “the second quarter would suffer, as the pandemic was at its peak.”
The West African country has slashed its economic growth forecast to 0.9 percent, down from the 6.8 percent forecast earlier, due to the impact of COVID-19. Enditem
Source:newsghana.com.gh
