Ja remittances rebound to record US$3.49b in 2025

Remittances to Jamaica rose 3.8 per cent in 2025, as a sharp post-hurricane rebound in the final two months of the year more than offset the slump that followed Hurricane Melissa’s October landfall.

The calendar-year total of US$3.49 billion edged past the US$3.36 billion recorded in 2024, according to data published by the Bank of Jamaica. The gain was modest by recent standards – inflows had surged to a peak of US$3.5 billion in 2021 before gradually retreating – but the trajectory through the year tells a more dramatic story.

Monthly data show net remittances turned negative year-on-year in October and November as the storm disrupted economic activity across western Jamaica and dampened the informal transfer networks that underpin diaspora flows. November 2025 net remittances of US$267.6 million were down 4.6 per cent from the same month a year earlier. The recovery was swift: December net inflows surged to US$315.3 million, a 13.6 per cent jump over December 2024 and the sharpest monthly gain of the year, driven by a US$36.2 million increase in gross inflows as diaspora communities in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada sent relief and reconstruction support.

The United States remained the dominant source corridor, accounting for 66.6 per cent of December inflows, followed by the United Kingdom at 12.5 per cent, Canada at 8.9 per cent and the Cayman Islands at 6.9 per cent.

Jamaica’s 3.8 per cent full-year growth lagged well behind El Salvador and Guatemala, which posted gains of 18.9 and 18.7 per cent respectively for 2025, though it compared favourably with Mexico, where remittances fell 4.6 per cent.

At 15.3 per cent of the country’s GDP output in 2024 – the most recent year for which the ratio is available prior to Hurricane Melissa damage – remittances remain one of Jamaica’s largest sources of foreign exchange, currently exceeding tourism receipts and dwarfing foreign direct investment.

business@gleanerjm.com