Net remittance inflows up to July this year continued to slow, totalling US$269.4 million, 4.8 per cent less or US$13 million below that seen for the same period last year.

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), in its last bulletin, said this was largely due to a decline of US$14.1 million or 4.7 per cent in total remittances inflows, partly offset by a decrease in remittance outflows of US$0.4 million or 2 per cent.

“The decline in gross remittance inflows was due to a reduction in inflows through both remittance companies and other remittances channels,” the report stated.

Net remittance inflows for the fiscal year-to-date which also dipped by almost a per cent, amounted to US$1.07 billion — US$7.2 million less than that for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

Based on an assessment of year-on-year out-turns, the 4.8 per cent decline recorded for July 2024 was the second largest seen over four years. This followed 5 per cent in July 2022 and 1.4 per cent in July 2023. For the record 2021 year when remittances reach their highest locally, inflows in July of that year grew by more than 10 per cent.

Still below the almost $3.5 billion in inflows seen for the historic 2021 year, a period when the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact countries, inflows last year totalled $3.37 billion, falling below US$3.44 billion in 2022.

Among the top foreign exchange earnings flowing into Jamaica, remittances, which are gifts sent back home to friends and loved ones in the form of cash from migrants overseas, have, from 2002 to 2023, averaged some US$2.1 billion. Throughout these years, inflows have seen an all-time high of US$3.49 billion in 2021 and a record low of US$968 million in 2001.

According to data from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), remittances received by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) reached US$154.5 million in 2023 — 0.9 per cent below projection. The dip, which it linked to “lower-than-expected growth in the total wage bill of migrant workers in the United States during the final months of 2023”, stemmed from continued inflationary pressures seen globally.

With flows to the LAC expected to grow at a faster rate this year (above 2 per cent), other international bodies, such as the World Bank, predict that this will be largely dependent on potential downside risks which could include weaker than expected economic growth in high-income migrant-hosting countries and volatility in oil prices and currency exchange rates.

The United States, which continues to be the largest source market of remittance flows to countries such as Jamaica, up to July this year accounted for 68.4 per cent of total inflows, followed by the United Kingdom at 11.1 per cent, Canada at 10.6, and the Cayman Islands at 5.8 per cent.