Ghanaians living abroad could be sending more money back home if the remittance channels are improved, this is according to research carried out by Developing Markets for the UK’s Department for International Development, DFID. Nearly 1.64 billion dollars was remitted to the country last year, more than three times what the country expects from crude oil this year. The research which focused on remittance from the UK also found out that increasing competition among players in the remittance business would be key to improving inflows as it would reduce cost and make it more efficient. Ghana, the research says has a much more competitive remittance corridor than most other African countries. Apart from Western Union which has outlets in almost all the banks, there is also MoneyGram, Vigo and other indigenous service providers not based with the banks. It also found out that though there are a number of technologies Ghanaians living in the UK could adopt to send money, they are unwilling to turn to them partially because they fear they could be victims of online scams. It however says they would be encouraged to do so if the mistrust is addressed and the savings in the cost of operating an automated service is passed on to remitters. The survey noted that the Bank of Ghana has to do more in reducing the dependency on banks for the money transfer business and allow other channels models to be used. It says this challenge makes it difficult for those in the rural areas who often have to travel long distances to access their monies. The report proposes that the Bank of Ghana open up the international remittances market to more outlets such as the mobile money platform to address the challenge. Source: Joy Business/Ghana