The Nicaraguan economy received a new record of 2,578.3 million dollars in family remittances between January and October of this year, 47.6% more than in the same period of 2021, the Central Bank of Nicaragua reported this Thursday.
In the accumulated to October 2022, Nicaraguans received 831.7 million dollars more than what was received in the first 10 months of 2021, when they totaled 1,746.6 million dollars in remittances, the State issuing bank specified in a monthly report .
The 2,578.3 million dollars received as family remittances as of last October represent 18.4% of Nicaragua’s gross domestic product (GDP).
This amount is also higher than the 2,146.9 million dollars that the Nicaraguan economy received in remittances in all of 2021, according to official figures.
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The main countries of origin of remittances received between January and October of this year continued to be the United States with 75.7%, followed by Spain and Costa Rica, both with 8.7% of the total, detailed the Central Bank.
REMITTANCES FROM THE US GROW 77.1%
“In the January-October period, the increase in remittances continues to be supported mainly by the dynamism registered in flows from the United States, registering a year-on-year growth of 77.1%,” stressed the Nicaraguan State issuing bank.
Also due to the increase in remittances from Mexico (10%), El Salvador (9.5%), Canada (8.7%), and Costa Rica (2.4%), he indicated.
“The above has been mitigated by the lower inflow of remittances from Spain and Panama, which maintain a year-on-year decrease of 11.6% and 8.8%, respectively,” he added.
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Remittances from the United States totaled a record of 1,958.4 million dollars in the first 10 months of this year, 852.4 million dollars more than what was received in the same period of 2021, when they totaled 1,106 million dollars, it is say 59.1% more, highlighted the source.
Between October 1, 2020 and September 30 of this year, the United States authorities detained 239,469 undocumented Nicaraguan migrants, an unprecedented number, according to the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Those 239,469 Nicaraguan migrants represent 3.9% of the total population of Nicaragua, estimated at 6.6 million inhabitants.
SPAIN AND COSTA RICA
For their part, accumulated remittances from Spain, the second destination from which family remittances to Nicaraguans come, totaled 223.3 million dollars, reflecting a decrease of 11.6% (252.6 million in the same period of 2021), according to the information.
Meanwhile, flows from Costa Rica totaled 223.2 million dollars, being 2.4% higher than what was registered in the same period of 2021 (217.9 million dollars).
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Nicaragua captured 2,146.9 million dollars in remittances in 2021, 16% more than in 2020 (1,851.4 million dollars), according to official figures.
The total family remittances received by Nicaraguans during 2019 were 1,682.4 million dollars, in 2018 of 1,501.2 million dollars, in 2017 of 1,390.8 million dollars, in 2016 of 1,264.1 million dollars.
Nearly 20% of the total population of Nicaraguan origin, estimated at 6.6 million inhabitants, lives abroad, mainly in the United States and Costa Rica, and it is estimated that half of them do so undocumented.
