Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made in increasing the number of countries giving their support to the Call to Action 'Remittances in Crisis: How to Keep them Flowing', co-launched with Switzerland in May 2020; which countries now support the Call; and what progress has been made to counteract the decrease in remittances due to the impact of COVID-19.

We have worked together with other Call to Action partners (Switzerland, World Bank etc) to reach out to countries and institutions to join. To date, an additional 28 countries, eight International Organisations, four industry bodies, and five donors / charities have joined. Some other countries have been unable to join but have taken actions to reduce the barriers limiting the flow of remittances on the back of the Call to Action.

The 28 countries that have joined the Call to Action are: Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Yemen, Jordan, Georgia, New Zealand, Niger, Panama, Rwanda, Vanuatu, Cote d'Ivoire, Fiji. Turkey, Honduras, Australia, Guatemala, Eritrea, Tonga, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Cambodia.

Positive steps have been taken by over 44 countries to counteract the decrease in remittances due to the impact of COVID - for example, actions targeted at improving access to remittances and financial services, expanding Healthcare and Social Safety Nets, and supporting food security. We also saw several companies respond by waiving their transfer fees.

In the UK, we amended the Health Protection Regulations to include money transfer organisations as essential service providers, ensuring that they were able to continue operating during the COVID-19 lockdown period.