HCP director Jonathan Crush and partner Godfrey Tawodzera publish SAMP Migration Policy Series No. 86 on “Pandemic Remittance Shocks and Resilience in the South Africa–Zimbabwe Migration Corridor”. Building on survey data, the report tests the conflicting global and local narratives about the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on remittance flows in the South Africa-Zimbabwe migration corridor. It points out that in many parts of the Global South, including in the South Africa-Zimbabwe migration corridor, informal remittance channels and volumes have been more important than formal ones. Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa continued to use informal channels after COVID-19 hit, but border closures and mobility restrictions partially blocked these channels for much of 2020 and 2021. Migrants responded by increasing their use of formal remittance channels and there was a significant shift towards the digital remittance services offered by MTOs and RSPs. Thus, the COVID- 19-related increase in remittances captured by the reserve banks was, at least in part, a product of a shift from informal to formal remitting behaviour.
