Sending money to Zimbabwe: costs, rules and inflows

Average cost by corridor

The World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide (RPW) database publishes Q3 2025 averages for sending money to Zimbabwe from South Africa and from the United Kingdom ^1,2. Each amount is the local equivalent of US$200 ^1,2. Total cost is the transfer fee plus the exchange rate margin ³. RPW shows no Q2 2025 average for either corridor ^1,2.

• On the South Africa corridor, the ZAR 149.33 average fee is the larger part of the cost. The average margin was 1.59% ¹.
• The World Bank report says South Africa remains the costliest G20 country to send remittances from, at 15.65% in Q3 2025 ³.

Providers in each sample

The South Africa sample lists 40 services for ZAR 1,370. RPW lists 33 as money transfer operator (MTO) services, four as bank services, two as bank or MTO services and one as a mobile operator service ¹. Total cost ranged from 5.15% for three WorldRemit services to 33.89% for an ABSA bank service ¹.

The United Kingdom sample lists 23 services for £120, all from MTOs ². Total cost ranged from 1.63% for a WorldRemit bank transfer paid out in cash to 13.80% for a Western Union cash transfer made at an agent ².

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe policy

In a press release of 16 August 2024, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said there were no plans to introduce a new diaspora remittances policy ⁴. It said remittances are treated as free funds under Exchange Control regulations, which recipients can receive in foreign currency ⁴.

The RBZ said recipients may convert the funds at their own instance with licensed agencies of their choice, and will not be forced to convert at the point of collection ⁴. It said remittances made up 17% of total foreign currency receipts ⁴.

The RBZ Monetary Policy Committee said on 15 June 2026 that total foreign currency inflows reached US$8.3 billion as at 31 May 2026, against US$6 billion in the same period of 2025 ⁵. That figure covers all foreign currency inflows, not remittances alone ⁵.

Remittance inflows in 2026

The Herald reported diaspora remittance inflows of about US$1.86 billion for January to August 2026, against US$1.52 billion a year earlier, as reported by Oliver Kazunga on 16 October 2026 ⁶. The article cites RBZ statistics ⁶. Its monthly figures were:

What the averages leave out

RPW prices are collected by researchers posing as customers and contacting firms in each corridor ⁷. The World Bank says fees and taxes charged in the receiving country may not be tracked in the database ⁷.

The UN SDGs commit to making it possible to send remittances for 5 percent or less in every corridor by 2030, according to the World Bank report ³.