Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-25 01:57:25|Editor: Mu XuequanVideo Player CloseADDIS ABABA, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The International Organization for Migration's (IOM) said as much as 78 percent of total remittances may currently be sent to Ethiopia through informal channels in some corridors. A IOM report "Scaling-up Formal Remittances to Ethiopia", which was launched on Thursday, stressed that the finding "represents both a major opportunity and a major challenge" for the east African country. Ethiopians have sent home as much as 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2014/2015, approximately 7.4 percent of the country's GDP, according to figures from IOM. "This represents a major challenge since remittances sent through informal channels not only pose a risk to the consumer, but also reduce opportunities to encourage the financial inclusion of migrants and their families as well as their investment," the report added. Achieng said both the receiving community and the Ethiopian government could benefit better from remittance "if some of the persisting barriers are mitigated such as high transaction costs that lead to a large percentage of informal remittance inflows, estimated at nearly 78 percent for Ethiopia."

Source: Ethiopian News August 24, 2017 18:11 UTC