away. coming up next on business africa zimbabwe's fall from a once prosperous economy and it hasn't hit rock bottom but some worry it's still headed down. that story much more coming up with monica jones on business africa don't go away. not over out and they will not succeed in dividing us so that all not succeed in taking the people off the streets because we're tired of this dictatorship. taking the stand global news that matters. made for mines.

the global remittance market is growing in its latest role remittance report 428000 the world bank finds that while sub-saharan africa trailed other developing nations it still saw an impressive growth of 10 percent and we go live to washington to talk to him to contest at the well. from also coming up at zimbabwe's fall from a once prosperous economy has yet to hit rock bottom but how much worse can it get

. and when in rome recycle as the romans to the city as testing and new ecology values for trade commuters. welcome to do business in africa i want to get jones and berlin good to have you with us wherever you are right now because we all know of course that the age old saying sounds like a home is where the hottest but it appears that home is also where the money goes and money sent to by foreign workers to their home countries as one of the largest contributors to economic growth in the developing world now that's according to the world bank's global remittance report for 2018 part of the most recent migration and development brief. global remittance store increases across all surveyed regions between 20172018 south asia which was led by india claiming the lion's share of those gains followed by china mexico the philippines and egypt

sub-saharan africa received 40 $6000000000.00 that is the lowest amount for all surveyed regions during that same period but that amount represents an almost 10 percent rise compared to the previous year very interesting stuff and i'm very glad that for more i'm joined now by dilip that's her leading. on a missed migration remittance unit at the world bank very good to have you with us here on the program obviously the world bank responsible for that report that we just quoted from how important remittances to countries in the developing world well. this year in 2019 are likely to reach $550000000000.00 and at their create they are likely to exceed the total amount of foreign direct investment going to low and middle income countries to

developing countries in other words remittances are now larger than foreign direct investment and they where norm to be much larger than official development assistance already so they're a lifeline to developing countries now all right so where they really account for a lot for those economies but what triggered that increase that you just mentioned . the most important reason for the increasing returns this was the stabilizing employment levels or improving employment levels since richer countries particularly the us and also in europe as well as income levels of migrants in those places but also oil price increases lead to higher amount of remittances going out of the g.c.c. the gulf countries and also from russia from where they meet us to school decentralization in a significant way and the final $1.00 factor was changing movements when exchange rates get aligned between the parallel market rate and off the shell exchange rate

remittances sort of show up in the official data so all 3 factors accounted for the increase in remittances to africa as well as to the rest of the world and we've also of course saying that this it's it's not an equal increase of religion says that there is a huge gap when it comes to the increase to to south asia and to sub-saharan africa is that simply down to the the number the sheer number of ex-pats sending money back home or all the other factors at play to. i think there are other factors in place although it is true that of the skill mix of migrants smackers south asians particularly indians have a lot of high skilled migrants and they send a lot more money back home but. also the. the cost of remittances the level of financial the low point of. their supporters remittances that also matters in the case of sub-saharan africa the financial the

development financial intermediaries are not present and because of the cost of sending money to sub-saharan africa can be often more than 10 percent so compare that with the cost which is about half of that for sending money to south asia that also has a major effect on the cost of on the floor of money going to sub-saharan africa and the final one is the exchange rate that i mentioned when the exchange rates are not properly aligned and there is a black market rate let's say in the parallel market that money tends to go underground so all these 3 factors are the reasons why returns for sub-saharan africa seem to be on average on a per capita basis a bit lower than. amounts going to solve south asia why deliberate or their lead economist at the welt talking to us in washington thank you so much. thank you simba was once known as the breadbasket of africa but that's a long time ago

a time before robert mugabe squeezed the country dry and was eventually ousted but those who cheered his downfall 2 years ago are now aghast to find the country's economy is even worse than before this is the most serious crisis in a decade when the once prosperous nation and its currency largely collapsed into ruin. homework by candlelight electricity only comes on for the odd hour and that is usually deep in the night yeah i'm helping him with his homework because he is preparing for his examination for tomorrow that our government does it every day life in zimbabwe this woman in the capital harare is happy when her mobile phone has enough battery left to shed a little light so you want me. last night my children went to bed without eating because there was no power to cook and i had no money to buy food. life is just bad here zimbabwe was once southern africa's breadbasket now many there are

suffering from malnutrition rampant inflation is making food on affordable petrol is also scarce many zimbabweans who only a couple of years ago welcome to the end of robert mugabe's decades long rule are now deflated. i just wish that of the governments came out against these corps in our appear to be cops for years and losing productive time grasping some you know if you will. the government is trying to reassure people that things will improve if. we don't do those fears for 4 upraised it because we we have diverted through. the security of the city that is also who it came to see got to this. time we need to be very near the country hardly anyone in zimbabwe thinks there's much of

a chance of peace and tranquility suddenly taking hold. it's been file works on wall street this week with many take companies out of forming each other but online retailer amazon is bucking the trend the company reported a profit of 2.6 percent for the last quarter that's up slightly from last year but well below its record of $3600000000.00 which we saw in the 1st 3 months of this year but somewhat disappointing figures comus imus and invest heavily in speedy delivery april amazon announced it will spend $800000000.00 to transition to one day shipping for prime honest and signature membership program. what question is was that investment in prime really worth it for amazon a financial market correspondent chelsea delaney had this to say these investments that amazon is making they're really long term investments it's investments into things like warehouses and it new workers into training into sort of the infrastructure that underpins this whole private system we did see the c.f.o.

of amazon say yesterday that they are seeing some early benefits of this. they saw a slight acceleration in north american sales a little bit stronger international sales they always point. to this prime day where it's always a record but they say it's another record survey but they are saying that they're seeing the benefits but he also said you know this is sort of a shock to the system the size of this investment is it's really it's going to take a while it's going to take us a few quarters to really see how it plays out a financial market correspondent see delaney talking to us and now to some other global business stories making the news. the u.s. economy failed to live up to donald trump's promises of 3 percent growth last year the commerce department says the world's biggest economy grew more slowly in 2018 than previously estimated revised official figures put growth down to 2 and a half percent the u.s. china trade wars we're seeing on some. u.s.

microblogging and social networking service twitter added $5000000.00 users in the 2nd quarter of the year its biggest jump in 2 years that's helping to book a stronger than expected revenue of 841000000 dollars social network has now turned a profit for 7 straight quarters. economists will tell you it's all about incentives that is especially true when it comes to recycling the city of rome is now trying to trying a new system to get romans to recycle more and the incentive is quite simple you get a free ride clip it coonan explains. step one get your phone sky and step 2 feature plastic bottle into the automatic recycling bin step 3 get $0.05 credited toward your ticket fair these machines are still in the test phase but consumers like them already if you do go see a beloved it's great for the plastic that we're not going to throw away if you

really it's also good for the cash back for the ticket transport to be yet another 2 positive things that once you know. you better believe if you give a kid it's an amazing initiative. it's going to encourage plastic recycling and you can also earn something for the subway ticket but. we've got our new. single ticket costs $1.00 euro and $0.15 meaning a free ride is 30 recycled plastic bottles away. rome's mayor virginia raji says her city is the 1st major european capital to try such a scheme but it's still starting small. only 3 machines have been placed in different train stations and the trial run will take a year only then will it be clear whether the eco bonus has made a difference in the city's plastic pollution an unholy problem india turning city.

dinah's in turkey can now go for that authentic in-flight eating experience and add us a $300.00 has been converted into a restaurant staff there is dressed slight attendance serving drinks and airline food it's a big draw with tourists in the coastal province. instead of aircraft seats steiner's relax in stations with tables passengers can also eat alfresco on tables set out on the way. and that's the business africa here on the w for me and the team in berlin thanks for keeping us company.

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a person. with the points to make the dream so special. for all true fans. become more than a foot long line. this is the deputy is africa coming up in the next 15 minutes the islamic movement in. nigeria some of the group's members have been killed after police fired live ammunition to just 1st day of protest in a battle they vowed to keep demonstrating. only just brought this is going to go mint. and the local hero in the yellow fans will meet the kenyan matthews providing free school transport for children with disabilities in canberra.