Global Courant
El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala totaled more than US$11,363 million in family remittances between January and April, 7.8% more than in the same months of 2022, according to information from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) consulted this Sunday, the 18th. June by the EFE agency.
The IOM report indicates that only El Salvador received in this first four-month period of 2023 at least US$2,566.5 million, Guatemala US$5,984.8 million, and Honduras totaled US$2,811.8 million.
The monthly income of remittances from these countries, which have millions of their citizens living in the United States, was US$2,658.2 million in January and US$2,640.8 million in February, while in March and April the record was US $3,155 million and US$2,909 million, respectively.
IOM data indicates that this region of Central America reached US$34,468.4 million in remittances in all of 2022 and US$30,171.1 million in 2021.
In El Salvador alone, government data indicates that a total of 471,633 households receive these currencies, of which 13,530 are in extreme poverty and 68,874 in relative poverty.
More remittances
A note recently published by Prensa Libre reports that Guatemala has captured 35% of the remittances received by seven countries in the last five years.
From 2018 to 2022, Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Panama received US$186,16.92 million, mainly from the United States and sent by migrants to their families.
According to statistics from the Central American Monetary Council (Cemca), these resources are equivalent, in several cases, to more than 20% of the Gross Domestic Product, which stimulates private spending, increased production, consumption and employment. .
Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Honduras are the countries in which transfers have a high concentration with 92%, compared to Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. However, the figures show that there is linear growth for all nations.
The relevance of these figures arose within the framework of the International Day of Family Remittances that is commemorated every June 16 to recognize the role played by millions of migrants through their monetary remittances, in a context of economic insecurity, natural disasters related to climate change and the pandemic, as described by the IOM.
Of the US$186 thousand 16.92 million that entered the region in the last five years, Guatemala has the majority participation with US$64 thousand 472.30 million, which is equivalent to 34.6% of the total, apart from representing 18.99% of GDP. In 2018, only US$9,287.79 million (12.67% of GDP) were received, so in five years, the amount doubled.
It is followed by the Dominican Republic with an accumulated amount of US$42,59.34 million, and represents 22.6% of the regional distribution. El Salvador with US$32,366.71 million and Honduras with US$32,203.71 million, with a participation of 17.3% each.
