INFOGRAPHIC - HOW REMITTANCES MOVE FROM OVERSEAS TO SOMALIA

Somalia could face a financial crisis with close to $1.3 billion in annual remittances as the last major US bank stopped money transfers to the country and to the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya.

A fortnight ago, California-based Merchants Bank closed all its accounts with Somali MTO’s; Australia’s Westpac Bank has also announced that it will close Somali remittance accounts soon. The move follows a decision in 2013 by Barclays, one of the biggest banks in the UK, to cut its ties with a company in Somalia that had been a recipient of large amounts of remittances.

The East African