RNZ – Monday 9th September, 2019.
New Zealand is in talks with Australia to lower hefty money transfer fees in several Pacific Island countries, as “stubbornly high” costs strain the region’s economies and hamper UN targets.
Remittances are a key source of earnings for many Pacific families who have relatives working abroad and the intervention comes as both Wellington and Canberra step up their engagement in the region.
The plans are part of a push to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals, which include a commitment to reduce remittance costs to less than three percent by 2030. In the Pacific, the average remittance costs are more than 10 percent, well above the global average of 7.1 percent.Read more…
