Jamaica tracking behind top remittance destinations in region
REMITTANCE inflows into Jamaica continue to climb this year but the growth rate of the foreign exchange source lags that of other destinations in the region.
For the January to February 2022 period, remittance inflows to Jamaica amounted to US$498.4 million, representing a growth rate of 4.5 per cent over the same period a year ago.
However, the performance pales in comparison to that for remittances to Guatemala, which registered a growth rate of 32.1 per cent for the same period and El Salvador where remittance inflows were up 10.4 per cent for the period.
The trend persists from last year when for the January to December 2021 period, remittance inflows to Jamaica grew by 20.4 per cent, lower than that of Guatemala which registered a growth rate of 35.4 per cent.
Similarly, El Salvador registered growth of 27.0 per cent for the period. Overall, remittance inflows to Jamaica for the January to December 2021 period totalled US$3.5 billion.
For the month of February itself, the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) reports net remittance inflows of US$225.2 million, an uptick of six per cent or US$12.7 million in comparison to February of 2021.
The increase came from total remittance inflows which climbed 8.0 per cent or US$18.8 million and was partly offset by an increase of 26.0 per cent or US$6.1 million in total remittance outflows.
The largest source market of remittance flows to Jamaica for February 2022 continued to be the USA.
Remittances from the USA accounted for 70.8 per cent of total flows, up from 68.1 per cent recorded for February 2021.
Other source countries which contributed a significant share of remittances for the month were UK at 10.6 per cent, followed by Canada and the Cayman Islands at 9.0 per cent and 5.8 per cent, respectively.