Zimbabwe received $180 million in diaspora remittances during the first quarter of the year with a projection to net in $750 million by end of 2017, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has said.

RBZ governor John Mangudya told NewsDay last week that the major sources of remittances were coming from South Africa, United Kingdom (UK) and United States.

“On the diaspora remittances we are around $180 million. The drivers of Diaspora remittances are South Africa, UK and USA. Here I am talking about diaspora individual remittances that came through official channels excluding those being sent through informal channels,” Mangudya said

The RBZ boss said the projected $750 million remittance this year did not include money that comes in the country through unofficial channels.

“We expect around $750 million that’s through the official channels. We know some people in South Africa and Botswana don’t have official papers so they obviously cannot send money through official channels,” he said.

Last year the diaspora remittances were $779 million down from $939 million in 2015.