International Remittances and Development in West Africa: The Case of Burkina Faso

Abstract

AbstractRemittances are one of the precious spin-offs of international migration in developing countries. They have been fast growing for the last decade, but like any other income, they fluctuate with economic conditions which are affected by several shocks, such as the ongoing covid 19 pandemic. Nevertheless, these transfers sometimes exceed Official Development Aid (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in some parts of the World such as Sub-Saharan Africa, demonstrating their importance for promoting socio-economic development. This chapter focuses on Burkina Faso, a West African country where more than 80% of the population practice subsistence agriculture, and bear heavily the consequences of poor climatic conditions, exacerbated by the ongoing climate change. The country also has a great history of migration mainly written by its colonial past. Using data from several sources such as the World Bank indicators and national surveys, this chapter aims firstly to understand the trends of remittances flows in the country for the last decade. Secondly, using a national survey on migration conducted in the country, we found that receiving international remittances increases the probability of setting up a non-agricultural business. This result suggests that remittances can help households to set up businesses and be less dependent on climatic conditions.