Sierra Leone is facing a drop in money sent from abroad, known as remittances, which is worrying despite earlier increases. Remittances jumped from US$113.94 million to US$142.14 million in late 2022 and then to US$142.69 million in early 2023, but started to fall in late 2023.

The decline continued into late 2023, dropping from US$126.9 million to US$111.8 million, a significant 11.9 percent decrease. However, the Central Bank expects remittances to bounce back in the next quarter, showing that Sierra Leoneans living abroad are still helping their families and friends at home.

In terms of exchanging foreign currency, the total amount traded in late 2023 was US$332.40 million, down 16.1 percent from the same period in 2022. But there was a slight increase from the previous quarter, up 9.7 percent to US$303.12 million.

Banks played a key role in getting foreign currency from different sectors like mining, international organizations, and services. Money going into people’s foreign currency accounts also rose by 12.3 percent to US$601.78 million from US$535.88 million.

This increase was driven by sectors like mining, services, and international organizations. There was also a big jump in money going into these accounts, up 21.3 percent from the previous quarter to US$601.78 million, thanks to contributions from sectors like mining, services, and international organizations.