Near US$500 million in remittances flow in first two months of 2023
Published:Wednesday | April 19, 2023 | 12:21 AM
DESPITE A dip in inflows in the month of February, remittance flows may replay the performance of the year ended, solidifying the post-pandemic trend of inflows valued in the region of US$3 billion.
For the full year 2022, remittance inflows to Jamaica amounted to US$3.44 billion. The performance follows 2021, in which inflows were US$3.45 billion.
For the January to February 2023 period, remittance inflows amounted to US$495.9 million.
In the first month of the new year, January, net remittance inflows of US$232.2 million increased by 5.1 per cent, or US$11.4 million, in comparison to January of 2022.
This came, the Bank of Jamaica, BOJ, indicates, from an increase in total remittance inflows of US$4.9 million, coupled with a decline of US$6.5 million, or 28.2 per cent, in total remittance outflows.
The increase in gross remittance inflows stemmed from a growth of 2.7 per cent in inflows via remittance companies, partly offset by a decrease of 1.9 per cent in inflows via the other remittances channel for the month of January.
For the month of February, net remittance inflows of US$ 2,941.3 million declined by 0.8 per cent, or US$22.3 million, relative to the corresponding period in the financial year 2021-22.
The BOJ indicates that the decline resulted from a reduction of 1.5 per cent, or US$48.3 million, in total remittance inflows partly offset by a decline of 11.4 per cent, or US$26.0 million, in total remittance outflows.
The largest source of remittance flows to Jamaica in February 2023 continued to be the United States, which accounted for 71.7 per cent of total inflows, up from 70.8 per cent recorded for February 2022.
Other source countries which contributed greatly were the United Kingdom at 10.6 per cent, followed by Canada and the Cayman Islands at 7.3 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively.
The BOJ noted that for Jamaica, the US$495.9 million in inflows for the first two months of the year represented a decline of 0.5 per cent, in contrast to the growth recorded by Guatemala and Mexico, which registered growth of 13.3 per cent and growth of 11.8 per cent, respectively. El Salvador also registered growth, 5.6 per cent for the period.