Tonga Turns Remittances Into Core Financial Infrastructure

Tonga’s roughly 100,000 people are scattered across more than 170 islands, while a large diaspora in Australia, New Zealand and the United States regularly sends money home. Remittances totaled about A$310 million in 2021 and accounted for more than 40% of GDP, helping households pay for food, schooling, electricity and housing. That scale makes cross-border transfers a pillar of domestic demand and foreign-exchange resilience rather than a peripheral financial service.

The Fintech Times reported on Aug. 27, 2026, that Digicel’s MyCash is expanding access through both a smartphone app and the *888# USSD channel, supporting transfers, withdrawals and airtime purchases. Digicel introduced two-tier know-your-customer checks in June 2025 to accommodate users lacking conventional identification. The National Reserve Bank of Tonga is overseeing the shift as economic growth, after reaching 2.7% last year, is projected to ease to 2.3% this year.