The pandemic of the century is hitting the world hard. According to economist and financial analyst Dr. Modibo Mao Makalou, African countries south of the Sahara could experience the lowest level of their economic activities. This, because of the remittances of the diaspora. Read instead!

"No one knows how long this will last." "We don't think we have the answer to all the questions." "The magnitude and persistence of the effects" of the coronavirus remain "very uncertain," said Jerome Powell, the president of the Central Bank of the United States of America (Federal Reserve  Bank). Indeed, the new Coronavirus, Covid-19, is having a negative impact on the global economy and could, according to international Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates, generate losses of more than $ 12 trillion in 2020 and 2021, the equivalent of China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the second largest economy in the world (IMF, October 2020). In addition, an unprecedented health, economic and social crisis is threatening lives and livelihoods, making it even more difficult to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

According to projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF, October 2020), economic activity in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 is expected to contract by 3%, its lowest level ever observed. This represents a decrease in real per capita income of 5.3% and thus brings per capita income back to its 2013 level. The countries of Africa south of the Sahara will suffer the full brunt of the biggest economic recession in about 25 years according to the World Bank's economic situation study (African Pulse, 2020), with the significant decline in
unilateral transfer and foreign direct investment (FDI) volumes in 2020.
Remittances have grown remarkably over the past forty years and provided financial support to countless families around the world. According to the World Bank, remittances to Africa reached $85 billion (CFAF 44,8800 billion, CFAF 1=560) in 2019. However, the decline in economic growth in all countries of the world, following the Covid-19 pandemic, could reduce by about 21% or $ 18 billion (10,080 billion FCFA) to reach 67 billion FCFA (37,520 billion FCFA) according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
Migrant remittances are a crucial source of income for some African countries. According to the Director of the World Bank's Global Indicators Group, "Migrant remittances are an important and relatively stable source of income for millions of families, but also of foreign exchange reserves for many developing countries. If the amount of these remittances continues to fall, especially as dramatically as in Central Asian countries, poor families around the world will face serious problems of malnutrition and access to health services and education."
The African diaspora is currently made up of about 50 million adults. It sends considerable financial resources per year to families and local communities in the countries of origin. Migrant remittances are an important and stable source of financing for Africa's development. Remittances are largely a source of external financing for African countries of considerable importance comparable to foreign direct investment and official development assistance. According to some studies by the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), migrant remittances are the second largest source of foreign capital to Sub-Saharan Africa behind foreign direct investment (FDI) and ahead of official development assistance (ODA).
Indeed, not only are the amounts at stake very large in absolute and relative terms, but migrants are in reality real "actors of development" through the financing of individual and collective projects through their regular remittances. Transfers made informally to Africa would correspond to a figure greater than or equal to official transfers. These large sums of money channelled through informal channels are not accountable at the level of the national macroeconomic accounts; it therefore becomes necessary to estimate their real values.
In Mali, a landlocked, low-income country with an agro-pastoral vocation, the diaspora is more concentrated and migration remains mainly of rural origin. Informal transfer systems are therefore a priori highly developed and well organized. This market is wrongly described by commercial banks as unprofitable. The United Nations estimated remittances from the diaspora to Mali at about $900 million (CFAF 540 billion) per year in 2013. The World Bank in a study on migration and development estimated that Mali occupied the tenth place in Africa in the amount of remittances from the diaspora in Africa in 2017 with about 538 billion. As for the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), it estimated unilateral transfers to Mali at 565 billion FCFA in 2018.
Finally, it is important to remember the imprecision of these figures (official or informal). Indeed, many African countries do not have adequate agencies and/or statistical instruments to accurately assess these money transfers on a regular and/or rigorous basis. According to the interpretation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), remittances are accounted for in three different parts of the balance of payments, which also does not facilitate the comparability of financial flows between countries at the balance of payments level.
Various studies indicate that migrant remittances are becoming increasingly important in the economies of highly migratory countries and highlight the social, economic and financial importance of migrant remittances in recipient countries. However, despite their weight, the financial flows generated to African countries remain poorly known and especially poorly exploited by most recipient countries.   Their volume represents between 9 and 24% of the GDP of the countries studied. Highly migratory countries like Mali could take advantage of this opportunity to use migrant remittances as a catalyst for the development of their financial sector, but also for investment, growth and employment.