Devex Invested: $640B a year for development hiding in plain sight

This week we take a look at remittances — or, as Pedro de Vasconcelos from the United Nations agriculture fund, IFAD, likes to think of it: over $640 billion a year hiding in plain sight.

That’s how much went to low- and middle-income countries in 2022 through the 200 million migrant workers sending money back home to 800 million recipients.

So where does the International Fund for Agricultural Development come in? De Vasconcelos, manager of the financing facility for remittances at the fund, told us recently that remittances invested in agriculture represent more than four times the amount of official development assistance for agriculture. Now, through the European Union-funded PRIME Africa initiative (supporting research, for instance, into how local savings and credit cooperative organizations in rural Kenya can facilitate greater access to digital remittances), IFAD is trying to give those receiving the money more options on what to do with it.