By Ndumbe Bell Gaston In Douala
Another deal has been struck between the world famous digital money remittance dealer WorldRemit and its Cameroonian counterpart, Express Exchange to intensify WorldRemit’s pursuance as a rapidly growing and reliable venue for money transfers from the Cameroonian diaspora into the nation.
According to a communiqué between Yaoundé and London made public on Thursday July 26 2018, Express Exchange has been added to the list of intermediaries after UBA and others, to contribute 300 sales points so as to contain the influx of e-cash from 50 countries abroad where Cameroonians live.
WorldRemit 2017 transactions surged to 120% and 25% of these was homeward bound, originating especially from the United States which has presently outgrown Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, who equally feature as principal digital money transfer countries for WorldRemit transaction into Cameroon.
According to government estimates 21% of Cameroonians or more or less 5 million live abroad and World Bank estimates state that in 2017 alone the amount or total of 278 million United States dollars flowed into the Cameroonian economy through WorldRemit.
One of the objectives of this deal is to prepare for trends of this magnitude. With 300 Express Exchange sales points spread across the 10 regions of Cameroon, WorldRemit extrapolates that they will be able to respond to an emerging 10 million Cameroonians in diaspora by 2020.
Andrew Stewart, Regional Director of Africa and Middle East of WorldRemit and Roche Toumaga, Communication Manager of Express Exchange shared this vision. Declared Andrew Stewart “Cameroon is our largest market in Francophone Africa and included among the eight largest across the globe. We are proud to work with Express Exchange which is a major digital money transfer hub to enable us accomplish our growth in the nation and to provide access to those in diaspora as well as their beneficiaries.”