CBK launches household survey to track how families use funds sent from abroad

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has initiated a nationwide programme to collect detailed data on international remittances received by Kenyan households. The new effort, dubbed the Remittances Household Survey (RHS), will involve field agents visiting homes across the country that receive money or support from relatives and friends living abroad.

In a statement, CBK defined remittances as either cash or in-kind support provided by non-resident households to those in Kenya, without any expectation of goods or services in return. The survey will also capture reverse remittances, support sent from Kenyan households to relatives outside the country.

The regulator aims to understand the amount of remittances received, how the funds are utilised, the associated costs, and the challenges recipients face. The findings are expected to inform policies that promote and sustain remittance flows.

“The support is received in the form of money (cash) and/or in-kind (non-cash) without requiring the recipient to provide corresponding items of economic value (goods or services),” the CBK noted.

CBK also disclosed that it gathers remittance data from formal providers such as banks, money transfer operators, and mobile network operators. However, the new survey will expand this to include informal channels and non-cash remittances, which are often underreported.

In 2024, Kenya recorded Ksh666.7 billion in total remittances, representing about 4 percent of the national GDP, up from Ksh586 billion in 2023. This marks the first time CBK is conducting such an in-depth household-level study on remittances.

The initiative is a collaboration between CBK, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), and Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya.