Nicaragua received 2,887.8 million dollars in remittances from its emigrants between January and November 2022, a new record, confirmed the Central Bank of Nicaragua. Those 2,887.8 million dollars surpassed the previous mark of 2,578.3 million dollars that were raised in the first ten months of the same year.
The new record was reached after Nicaraguan emigrants sent their relatives 309.5 million dollars last November, “exceeding by 65.9% those registered in the same month of the previous year (186.6 million dollars),” said the issuing bank of the State in a monthly report, revealed this January 9, 2023.
The 2,887.8 million dollars of remittances registered between last January and November represented a growth of 49.4%, compared to the 1,933.2 million dollars accumulated in the same period of the previous year, the entity indicated.
80% of the amount of remittances were sent from the United States, followed by Costa Rica (7.5%), Spain (7.1%), Panama (1.5%) and Canada (0.8%), “which together represented 97% of the total received this month”, detailed the monetary authority.
The issuing bank highlighted that, in the case of remittances from Spain and Panama, these “maintain a year-on-year decrease of 11.1% and 8.9%”, respectively, while highlighting an increase in those that arrived from Mexico (9.1% ), El Salvador (8.6%), Canada (8.3%), and Costa Rica (2.8%).
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.
Exports increased 9.8% in 2022, according to Apen
The value of Nicaragua’s traditional exports reached 3,940.8 million dollars in 2022, 9.8% more than a year earlier, the Association of Producers and Exporters of Nicaragua (Apen) reported on January 10.
The 3,940.8 million dollars in exports under the traditional regime (not including free zones) was 350.9 million dollars higher than those registered in 2021 (3,589.9 million dollars), said that union in a report.
Meanwhile, the volume of exports reached 2107.16 million kilograms, a figure 3.65% higher than the 2032.97 million kilograms of 2021, according to Apen figures.
In absolute terms it means an increase of 74.19 million kilograms, he highlighted.
The prices of Nicaragua’s main export products increased by an average of 5.9% in 2022, going from 1.77 per kilogram in 2021 to 1.87 per kilogram last year.
Apen highlighted that coffee exports increased by 197.23 million dollars last year compared to 2021, while raw gold increased by 55.39 million dollars.
“Regarding the decreases, the most striking was beef, which decreased its exports by 50.15 million dollars, as a result of the decrease of 17.36 million kilograms in the volume exported,” he noted.
In general, including exports from free zones, Nicaragua will exceed 7 billion dollars in exports in 2022, according to Apen forecasts.
That figure would represent 49.95% of Nicaragua’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Nicaragua expects its GDP growth of between 3.5% to 4.5% in 2022.
The Nicaraguan economy rose 10.3% in 2021, the first year of growth after three consecutive years of closing with a red balance, according to the Central Bank.
The Nicaraguan economy had contracted by an average of -3.03% per year in the 2018-2020 period.
GDP decreased by 2% in 2020, as a result of the covid-19 pandemic and the damage caused by hurricanes Eta and Iota, in November of that year, according to the monetary authority.
In 2019 it fell 3.7% and 3.4% in 2018, due to the sociopolitical crisis that has affected the country for 57 months, according to the issuer.
