Remittances top US$3-billion mark again
THE LATEST remittance data from the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) indicates that the island topped US$3 billion in inflows again, despite one month being left in the year under review (2023) and despite year-over-year declines.
For the January to November 2023 period, remittance inflows to Jamaica amounted to US$3.06 billion, an outturn representing a decline of 1.6 per cent relative to January to November 2022.
With December’s data left to be added, the performance is still expected to underperform 2021, the year of the largest level of inflows, historically, when US$3.45 billion in funds were sent to the island from transactions amounting to12,107,625.
For the full year 2022, remittance inflows to Jamaica amounted to US$3.44 billion.
Despite the impact of higher inflation on remittance senders, the World Bank, in its latest
Migration and Development Brief
released in December, indicates that remittances to lowand middle-income countries grew an estimated 3.8 per cent in 2023.
This is a moderation from the high gains of the previous two years.
The BOJ says that in the January to November period, Jamaica’s decline of 1.6 per cent in inflows is in contrast to growth of 8.7 per cent, 7.9 per cent and 5.1 per cent recorded by Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, respectively.
There were net remittance inflows of US$246.4 million for November 2023, representing a decline of 1.6 per cent, or US$3.9 million, in comparison to November 2022.
The BOJ states that this was primarily due to a US$9.4-million, or 3.4 per cent, decline in total remittance inflows, the impact of which was partly offset by a decrease in remittance outflows of US$5.5 million, or 20.4 per cent.
Overall, the central bank said the decline in gross remittance inflows reflected reductions in inflows via remittance companies (cambios) and banks.
As usual, the largest source market of remittance flows to Jamaica for November 2023 continued to be the United States, with 68.6 per cent of total flows, down from the 70.2 per cent recorded for November 2022.
Other source countries which contributed a notable share of remittances for the month were the United Kingdom (10.6 per cent), followed by Canada (10.1 per cent) and the Cayman Islands (6.5 per cent.