For the second consecutive year the Colombians abroad they sent back a figure record of remittances to the country with US$8,597 millionconfirming that this workforce, like that of other countries, has become an important source of resources.
According to the records of the Bank of the Republiclast year’s figure represents a 24.4% growth compared to that registered in 2020 (US$6,908 million), when it had also been historic and as a particular fact, the highest amount of last year arrived in December, with US$830.8 million.
One way of explaining the figure for 2021 (US$8,597 million) is to say that practically, on average, US$1 million arrived in Colombia every hour for these income from work, US$23.6 million per day.
Sergio Olartechief economist at Scotianbank Colpatriaconsiders that given that countries like the United States, where there are no monetary stimulus plans for people and where employment is recovering quickly, it was thought that resource shipments were going to moderate but this did not happen, given the magnitude of growth recorded in the case of Colombia.
The analyst says that in any case, remittances from other countries and regions, such as Europe, are also recovering. In addition, he said that given the political uncertainty in Colombia, many investment plans remain on hold and Foreign Direct Investment grows less dynamicallybut Colombians do not stop sending resources to their families.
In addition, he said that countries like Chile, the most developed in the region and where a significant flow of Colombian migrants has arrived, has become one of the places of origin of these resources.
Regarding remittances, the main countries of origin were United States, Spain and Chileaccording to the Bank of the Republic.
Nearly 50% of the Colombian migrant population is in the United States and with the millionaire aid plans for the unemployed, the migrants were favored and with it the sending of part of those resources to Colombia.
worldwide phenomenon
The pandemic and its effects on the economies of developing countries have been causing global remittances present sustained increases and the World Bank estimated in a study that in 2021 these will grow by 7.3%, reaching US$589,000 million, driven by the 21.6% rise in shipments destined for Latin America and the Caribbean.
In the absence of knowing the final figures for 2021, the five countries that will receive the most remittances are India, China, Mexico, the Philippines and Egypt.
Ana Vera, an analyst at Inon Capital, agrees that the phenomenon of remittances allows some countries to derive a good part of their income from them thanks to the taxes levied on them, since there are Central American and Caribbean countries where they represent up to 35%. of GDP.
In the case of Colombia, its weight in GDP is 2.5%.
Vera believes that this less-skilled workforce was able to stay active during the pandemic because they were dedicated to cleaning, sanitation, and agriculture activities, sectors that did not stop.
For Jorge Godinezdirector for Latin America of WorldRemita global virtual platform for transferring remittances, shipments will continue to grow steadily and there will be a shift to digital. That is why he predicts that mobile wallets, which allow users to store, send and receive money using cell phones, are expected to continue to gain popularity and mentions that in Colombia, for example, the paying partner Bancolombia went from having less than 2 million wallets phones before the pandemic to almost 6 million.
It ensures that another fundamental factor in the business is security with mechanisms that allow validating customer identification, apart from the need for speed in transactions and simplicity to reduce the number of steps for each transfer.
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