Kenya’s diaspora remittances from Australia jumped by nearly half in the first six months of 2025, cementing the Oceania country’s position as the fastest-rising source of the flows into Nairobi, even as key traditional high-growth corridors such as Saudi Arabia and Germany recorded declines.
Fresh data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) shows that Kenyans in Australia sent home $112.83 million (Sh14.58 billion) in the first half of 2025, a 48 percent jump from $76.3 million (Sh9.86 billion) in the same period last year.
The 47.85 percent climb is the steepest among Kenya’s top remittance sources, reflecting the expanding Kenyan community and a steady demand for skilled labour in the world’s sixth-largest country by total land area.
Australia has leaped ahead of Saudi Arabia and Germany, which have been among Kenya’s fastest-growing corridors in recent years, but are now slowing down.
The data, based on cash sent through official channels such as banks and money transfer firms, shows inflows from Saudi Arabia slipped by 6.2 percent to $189.7 million (Sh24.52 billion), while Germany posted a 7.1 percent drop to $95.8 million (Sh12.38 billion).
The contraction in remittance flows from these two countries signals emerging headwinds ranging from labour market adjustments to currency fluctuations.
Australia’s sharp rise, meanwhile, reflects changing migration trends, with Kenyans diversifying their destinations beyond traditional labour markets.
The re-emergence of Australia as a key remittances source for Kenya has coincided with the country’s post-pandemic demand for skilled workers in key sectors such as health and construction, which could have attracted a growing number of Kenyan professionals.
Remittances are Kenya’s largest source of foreign exchange, ahead of receipts from tourism and earnings from tea and horticultural exports.
Total remittances increased by 5.88 percent in the half-year period to $2.52 billion (Sh325.68 billion), and the CBK Governor Kamau Thugge has projected a growth of six percent for the whole year, reaching $5.2 billion (Sh672.05 billion) by December.
“Remittance inflows have remained resilient despite increased global uncertainties, supported by diversified source countries and effects of government policy to export skilled labour,” Dr Thugge said on August 13.
Jobs abroad
Since taking power in September 2022, President William Ruto has pledged to negotiate bilateral labour deals with developed economies in a bid to create jobs for Kenya’s growing pool of skilled and semi-skilled youth abroad.
Labour migration has become a key pillar of President Ruto’s job creation agenda, with the government arguing that exporting talent will help curb unemployment at home, while boosting remittances.
The United States remained the dominant source, with Kenyans in the world’s largest economy sending home $1.35 billion (Sh174.47 billion) in the review period, a 7.7 percent rise from $1.25 billion (Sh161.55 billion) in the first half of 2024.
Kenyans in the United Kingdom, meanwhile, sent $167.4 million (Sh21.63 billion), an 8.8 percent decline.
Kenyans in the US continue to account for more than half of total remittances, underlining their central role in supporting household incomes and the wider economy, even amid a renewed crackdown on immigration under President Donald Trump.
Since returning to office in January 2025, President Trump has enforced tougher border controls, tightened visa processes, and increased deportations. However, the resilience of US remittances points to the size and longevity of the Kenyan diaspora community in America.
Washington’s approach contrasts with that of Nairobi, where President Ruto is aggressively pursuing bilateral labour agreements to create job opportunities for Kenyans abroad at a time when Kenyan companies are struggling to do so.
Last year, Kenya reached a labour and migration deal with Germany, creating pathways for skilled Kenyans to work in Europe’s largest economy while also providing a legal framework for the repatriation of Kenyans without valid work permits.
Labour export push
Earlier in the year, the State Department for Diaspora Affairs announced that negotiations with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Ireland were at various stages.
“It is my intention that every year we should be able to send 250,000 Kenyans to work in different parts of the world so that we can enhance and increase the number of people working abroad and enhance our remittances from abroad. I am committed, and I believe that is doable because I can see that we are on the right trajectory,” Dr Ruto said in May 2024.
The President added during his State of the Nation Address in November 2024: “Our focus extends beyond the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar. We are expanding our reach by actively negotiating bilateral labour agreements with new potential markets, including Russia, Poland, and Jordan.”
However, the government’s labour export push has rattled private job placement agencies, some of which have been accused of unprofessional conduct such as confiscating workers’ travel documents and abandoning them abroad.
Data from the Labour and Social Protection department showed the number of foreign job contracts cleared for renewal or extension dropped by 54.3 percent to 19,310 in the year to June 2024, partly due to enforcement actions that eliminated rogue agencies.
The decline extended a three-year trend, with government-approved overseas jobs slipping far below the 90,000 annual target.
“Under-achievement in the financial year 2022/23 and 2023/24 was attributed to enhanced enforcement that eliminated rogue agencies. In addition, there was a decrease in job orders from various countries of destination,” the State Department for Labour and Social Protection told the Treasury in its pre-budget disclosures.
