Comoros

The COVID-19 pandemic hindered the mobility of goods, services and people all around the world and regional and national authorities struggled to find common guidelines which could be applied homogenously. This was the case also for the Eastern and Southern African region, where different Regional Economic Communities (RECs) operate simultaneously, resulting in overlapping memberships with several countries in the region belonging to various RECs.

Remittances from migrants are a major source of financing for the economies of developing countries and of the recipient populations. They are of great benefit to large segments of the population which, without these resources, would live in conditions of abject poverty. Consequently, remittance flows tend to remain stable even when the migrants’ countries of residence are beset by economic and financial crisis. They seem to be less volatile than official development assistance and foreign direct investment.

Situated at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, the archipelago of the Comoros consists of four islands, three of which, Grande Comore (Ngazidja), Anjouan (Ndzwani) and Mohéli (Mwali), covering an area of 1 861 km2, form the Union of the Comoros, while the fourth, Mayotte (Mahoré), remained French when the Comoros gained independence. The country has an estimated population of 600 000 and a very high average population density of 320 inhabitants per km2.