NAIROBI, Kenya, June 17 – Recipients of diaspora remittances from South Africa, Qatar and Turkey face the highest costs when converting their transfers into cash in Kenya, according to the 2025 Remittances Household Survey by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and FSD Kenya.
The survey found that recipients paid an average of Sh15.8 to encash every Sh1,000 received from South Africa, making it the most expensive remittance corridor among the top 20 source countries. Qatar followed at Sh14.5, while Turkey ranked third at Sh14.1.
Australia and Saudi Arabia rounded out the five most expensive corridors, with recipients paying Sh13.2 and Sh11.0 respectively for every Sh1,000 received.
Despite the variations, the survey showed that the overall cost of encashing remittances remains relatively low.
On average, recipients paid about Sh8.0 to access every Sh1,000 sent from the top 20 source countries, which account for 96 percent of total cash remittance inflows into Kenya.
This translates to less than one percent of the transaction value.
“On average, the cost of encashing the equivalent of KSh1,000 from the top 20 source countries, accounting for 96.0 per cent of the total cash remittance inflows, was about KSh8.0, representing less than 1.0 per cent of the transaction value.”
“However, notable variations were observed across corridors, with cash remittances from countries such as South Africa, Qatar and Turkey being relatively more expensive in terms of encashment costs.”
Among the major remittance corridors, Italy recorded an encashment cost of Sh9.5 per Sh1,000 received, followed by Norway (Sh8.6), the United States (Sh8.5) and the United Arab Emirates (Sh8.2). Egypt stood at Sh7.2, while Germany, Tanzania and Ethiopia posted costs of Sh6.6, Sh6.2 and Sh6.0 respectively.
Recipients of remittances from neighbouring countries generally faced lower charges. South Sudan recorded an encashment cost of Sh5.6 per Sh1,000 received, Uganda Sh5.3 and Canada Sh4.9.
The least expensive corridors were in Europe, with Spain registering a negligible Sh0.1 cost per Sh1,000 received, followed by Denmark (Sh1.2) and France (Sh1.9).
The survey also highlighted significant differences across payout channels.
Mobile money operators, WorldRemit and banks were identified as the most expensive channels for encashing remittances, while informal channels recorded the lowest encashment costs.
Encashment is the process through which a recipient converts a remittance into liquid cash through a bank, mobile money agent, money transfer operator (MTO) outlet or another payout point.
