The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has released final figures for remittances which indicate that for the 2015 calendar year, total remittance inflows amounted to US$2.23 billion, representing an increase of US$69.0 million, or 3.2 per cent more than the US$2.16 billion in 2014.

These inflows were above the average of US$1.84 billion for the previous five corresponding periods and above the corresponding pre-crisis outturn for 2008, the central bank said in its

Remittance Report 2015.

Net remittances for the 2015 calendar year totalled US$1.48 billion which represented a growth of US$47.8 million or 3.3 per cent relative to the corresponding period of 2014.

The central bank comments that the outturn for the review period reflected an increase in gross inflows offset by a growth in outflows.

The increase in total remittance inflows reflected an increase of US$79.2 million in inflows through remittance companies.

The increase in these flows was partly offset by a decline of US$10.2 million or 3.4 per cent in inflows from other remittances.

The United States was the main source of inflows, amounting to US$138.3 million, followed by Canada with US$15 million. Other sources were the United Kingdom with US$9.9 million and China with US$10.3 million. Another US$53 million came from ‘other’ sources.

The BOJ indicated that in 2014 remittances were three-and-a-half times inflows from foreign direct investments. In that period total remittances of US$2.16 billion, compared to US$595 million in FDI inflows.