This 85 page report presents the results of the African Development Bank (AfDB)’s 2007 extensive study on migrant remittances. The study involved a survey of emigrants from Morocco, Senegal, Mali, and the Comoros as well as beneficiaries in the countries. The African countries, while very different from one another, all have a French colonial background while the emigrants surveyed lived in France, Italy, and Spain.

The study examines the use of remittances and preferences for various transfer mechanisms to ultimately present various challenges in dealing with remittances as well as a number of suggestions for how to improve the method and use of remittances. Among the suggestions is the recommendation that microfinance institutions (MFIs) expand or mobile banking services be offered, so that beneficiaries of remittances might readily access the transferred money through a formal mechanism. Remittances constitute a great volume of cash inflow to the countries surveyed, totaling between 9 percent of GDP in Morocco and 24 percent in the Comoros, or between 80 and 750 percent of the countries’ official development assistance (ODA).