With more mobile money accounts than bank accounts in Burundi, Alix Murphy says the country is a good testing ground for trialling remittances by mobile

Remittances – money sent home by people working abroad – are hugely important in developing countries. In Burundi, they are vital.

Two thirds of this small African nation’s population live on less than $190 a year, so this cash plays a significant role in smoothing volatile, often vulnerable, incomes. The average remittance-receiving family relies on funds from relatives abroad for 61% of household expenditures.

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