Remittances continue to fall
Remittances continue to trend downward, indicating that the historic US$3.5 billion of inflows in 2021 will not be repeated this year.
The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) released its latest remittance figures in the first week of August. Year-to-date for the January to June 2022 period remittance inflows to Jamaica amounted to US$1653.9 million.
This out-turn, it was outlined, represented a decline of 3 per cent. Other countries in the region such as Guatemala registered a growth rate of 25.1 per cent. Similarly, remittances to Mexico registered growth of 16.6 per cent while El Salvador registered growth of 3.3 per cent for the period.
The data for the month of June indicate that net remittance inflows of US$271.3 million represented a 4.2 per cent dip valuing US$12 million in comparison to June of 2021.
Total remittance inflows also fell, decreasing by US$14.2 million, partly offset by a reduction of US$2.3 million or 11.7 per cent in total remittance outflows.
“The decline in remittance inflows is partly due to increased cash in hand remittances as travel recovers,” the central bank stated.
The largest source market of remittance flows to Jamaica continues to be the USA which accounted for 70.7 per cent of total flows. Other source countries which contributed a notable share of remittances for the month were Canada at 10.6 per cent, followed by UK and the Cayman Islands at 9.0 per cent and 6.0 per cent, respectively.