Since arriving in South Africa to look for work in the early 1990s Tanaka, has relied on the "hand-to-hand" informal remittance system. Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa send billions of rands home to their countries of origin every year. A World Bank study released in March, for example, found that South Africa remained "the costliest G20 country to send remittances from." But cost is not the sole reason many migrants to South Africa have not chosen banks and formal money transfers. The G20 group of nations, which includes South Africa, has pledged to work together to decrease this to just 5%.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 10, 2017 03:56 UTC