Family remittances increased by 61.3% in January, February and March of this 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to the Report on the Evolution of Remittances from the Central Bank of Nicaragua. The massive migration of nationals has raised shipments from abroad to record numbers.
The flow of remittances entering the economy continued with the dynamism observed last year, according to the highest bank issuer. The official document details that in the first three months of this year, 1,020.3 million dollars were received.
BCN statistics indicate that an additional 387.7 million dollars were received to what was registered in the same period of 2022 when 632.6 million were recorded.
Related news: Nicaragua depends more and more on remittances: They increased by 63.5% in February
The United States continues to occupy the first place as the country of origin of shipments to Nicaragua with 81.2%, which is equivalent to 828.9 million dollars in the quarter, registering a growth of 87.2% compared to the same period in 2022, in which 442.8 million dollars were received.
In second place is Costa Rica with 7.7% that added 78.9 million dollars, reflecting an interannual growth of 14.2 percent. It is followed by Spain with 6.4%, which sent 65.8 million dollars, a decrease of 6.3% compared to what was registered in the same period of 2022 when 70.2 million dollars were received.
In fourth place is Panama with 1.3%, which represents 13.3 million dollars; an interannual decrease of 16.9 percent was observed. In fifth place is Canada with 0.7% of total shipments. These five countries together represented 97.3% of the total.
Nicaragua received 3,224.9 million dollars in remittances in 2022, 50.2% more than what was received in 2021. Of that total, 2,469.7 million dollars came from the United States, the main destination for exiles and Nicaraguan migrants. These more than 3 billion dollars represent 23% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Nicaraguan economy has recovered in the last two years, mainly due to an increase in the value of exports and a new record in the receipt of remittances from emigrants, according to the BCN.
