May 2009 Financial News

$6.5b less remittances up to March this year

May 06, 2009

Inflows of remittances from overseas totalled US$488 million during the first quarter of 2009, representing a 15 per cent, or US$73 million ($6.5 billion) drop in inflows compared to the corresponding period in 2008.

Remittance inflows fell by US$29 million ($2.6 billion), or 16.6 per cent during the month of March 2009 when compared to the corresponding month last year, albeit the pace of decline was slower than in the previous month. Inflows totalled US$146 million ($12.99 billion) during the review month.

In February, inflows fell by 18.3 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2008 following a 10 per cent decline during the previous month.

The drop in March also represented the sixth consecutive month of decline and the largest decline since August last year when a 0.4 per cent downtick was registered.

According to the Bank of Jamaica's (BOJ's) remittance update report for the month, other economies in the region have been reporting declines since last year, but Jamaica was among the hardest hit by falling inflows.

Mexico was the first country of seven compared in the report to report declines in remittances - from as far back as January 2008 - but has seen consistent levels of decline on a monthly basis - approximately three per cent.

Others such as El Salvador, Guatemala and Columbia, like Jamaica, only started registering declines in August last year.

In dollar terms, Jamaica has seen the smallest declines, however, but as a percentage only Columbia reported higher fall-offs in remittances, registering as high as 31.4 per cent drop in November 2008 when compared to the comparative month in 2007.

The fall-off in remittances flowing into El Salvador during the last quarter of 2008 was five per cent lower than the comparative period in 2007 while Guatemala registered a seven per cent fall-off.

Jamaica saw remittances drop 10 per cent during the last quarter of 2008.


Source:
Jamaica Observer
Wednesday, May 06, 2009

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