Jamaica’s net remittance inflow surges in November, up by 25.7 % to $US220.9 million
Jamaica’s net remittance inflows continue to surge, going up by 25.7 per cent in November 2020 to rake in US$220.9 million or US$45.2 million relative to November 2019.
Overall, the January to November 2020 period saw Jamaica recording remittance inflows totalling US$2.60 billion, based on latest data from the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ). The BOJ’s just released November 2020 Remittance Bulletin showed that the 25.7 per cent increase in November resulted from a rise in gross remittance inflows of 18.7 per cent or US$37.5 million.
This was further aided by a decrease of 32 per cent or US$7.7 million in outflows. The increase in gross remittance inflows came from an improvement of 23.5 per cent in inflows through remittance companies.
The data from the BOJ showed that this was partially offset by a decline in other remittances of 2.4 per cent for the month of November. For the period April to November 2020, net remittance inflows of US$1.89 billion was recorded, representing an increase of 30.8 per cent or US$446.2 million relative to the corresponding period in 2019.
REMITTANCE OUTFLOWS DECLINED AS INFLOWS SPIKED
This improvement, according to the BOJ, resulted from an increase of 25.2 per cent or US$410.2 million in total remittance inflows, further driven by a decline of 19.8 per cent or US$36.0 million in total remittance outflows. The improvement in inflows was primarily driven by an increase of 29.1 per cent in remittance companies, while other remittances recorded an increase of 5.4 per cent based on the latest remittance bulletin.
For the period January to November 2020, Jamaica’s growth rate in remittance inflows of 19.3 per cent was again higher than that of Mexico, which registered a growth rate of 12.1 per cent.
Guatemala and El Salvador also registered growth for the period with increases of roughly 5.9 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively. Concurrently, the largest source market of remittances flows to Jamaica for November 2020 was the United States, whose share increased to 68.1 per cent up from the 64.2 per cent recorded for November 2019.
Other source countries, which contributed a notable share of remittances for the month were the United Kingdom at 11.6 per cent followed by Canada and the Cayman Islands at 10.2 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively.
