The Remittance Community Task Force (RCTF) is launched by the International Fund for Agricultural Development as an initiative under the Global Forum on Remittances Investment and Development (GFRID), with the collaboration of its co-organizers, the African Union and the World Bank Group. To date, 35...
The United Nations Secretary General called for global solidarity in response to the coronavirus crisis. In his address, he underscored the fact that “remittances are a lifeline in the developing world – especially now. Countries have already committed to reduce remittance fees to 3 percent,...
On 22 May 2020, Switzerland and the UK launched a joint appeal to mitigate the sharp decline in remittances to low-income countries. The international call to action "Remittances in crisis: how to keep them flowing" aims to ensure the unhindered flow of remittances worldwide during the...
Considering the unique role postal operators, with their historic 150-year-old commitment to public service, play in the remittances market, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) invited its member countries to engage in the IDFR 2020 campaign “Building resilience in times of crisis” through the issuance of...
The Central Bank is releasing funding-for-lending support for medium and small enterprises through commercial banks, initially for $2.9 million with more in the pipeline. The Central Bank is also encouraging commercial banks to use excess liquidity to support lending and employ existing CBRs to support...
In April, Governor Benjamin E. Diokno championed the use of e-payments amid the Luzon-wide, enhanced community quarantine to minimize face-to-face transactions and prevent the spread of COVID-19. ...
In May, Ghana became the first country to launch a digital financial services (DFS) policy. While the policy has been years in the making, the government hopes the policy will support various measures it is taking to leverage DFS in its COVID-19 response. Not surprisingly for...
As of April 2020, the Revised Cross-Border Payment Regulation (CBPR2) mandates the need to show the total cost (any fees plus the exchange rate margin quantified as one single currency amount) of making a cross-border payment from one account to another...
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) produced a document designed to offer preliminary guidance to employers to enhance their response to the current health crisis brought on by COVID-19 and, in particular, to offer advice to establish effective protections for migrant workers in employer operations...
On May 19, the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) instituted a set of rapid economic policy changes to support both businesses and individuals during the lockdown, and to further the national digitisation agenda. These decisive measures lasted three months, and they included: Zero charges on...
