Zimbabweans in SA remitting US$0.5 billion a year – FT

The Financial Times (FT) has reported that Zimbabweans based in South Africa may be remitting US$500 million back to the home country every year based on a detailed survey of the Diaspora conducted by the University of South Africa (UNISA) Based on a sample of nearly 5,000 Zimbabweans who have fled to Johannesburg, the University of South Africa survey sheds rare insight into the extent to which expatriates are propping up the tottering economy north of the border. It also suggests that the scale of the exodus from President Robert Mugabe's repressive regime may be smaller than has been assumed. Based on the growth rate of migration from Zimbabwe in recent years the survey estimates there are between 800,000 and 1m Zimbabweans in South Africa. This is fewer than the 2m-3m cited by South African officials. But considering that Zimbabwe's population is about 12m, the 1m figure is seen by analysts as more plausible. "This is the best guess based on more than a thumb-suck from traffic across the border," the FT quoted Paul Graham, the executive director of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa. "It's certainly not as high as people have been saying." The average monthly remittance home from the 4,654 Zimbabweans surveyed is R290 ($41.40, £20.70). If there are 1m Zimbabweans in South Africa, this rate would indicate that just under $500m (£250m) is being sent home every year. More than two thirds of those surveyed rely on the drivers of minibus taxis, the region's staple transport, to take their money home. One fifth rely on friends and relations visiting South Africa and only 2 per cent use official banking channels. Just over two thirds of the respondents said they would return to live in Zimbabwe if the political and economic situation stabilised. Mr Graham is also reported by the FT as having noted that this year - which has seen official rates of inflation soar to more than 7,000 per cent a month - respondents cited for the first time the Zimbabwean economy rather than politics as their main reason for leaving.