Caribbean – Latin America send home record amounts of cash
Remittances received by Latin American and Caribbean countries are projected to reach a record $155 billion in 2023 if the trends observed to date continue, according to a new report by the Inter-American Development Bank. This is an increase of 9.5 percent compared to the $142 billion received in 2022, completing fifteen consecutive years of growth.
The sustained growth of remittances reflects new intraregional migratory flows and the contribution that migrants make to their countries of origin. Despite a moderate increase between 2017 and 2019 and the extraordinary growth in 2021 (26.7%) during the COVID-19 pandemic, remittances to Latin American and Caribbean countries have shown sustained growth of around 10 percent annually for the past 10 years.
This increase in 2023 is mainly explained by the growth in remittances received by Central American countries (13.2%), the growth in remittances received by Mexico (9.8%), and the growth in remittances that South America received (7.9%). In the case of the Caribbean countries, growth in 2023 is more moderate (2.6%).
The amount estimated for the year reflects the increase in the income of migrants, who improved their employment rates, as well as the progress of the migration process in previous periods, which allowed an increase in the flows of remittances received by families in the countries of origin.