By: T. Chapman
USD 13.5 billion has been sent back to the Caribbean by immigrants globally. This is according to information tallied by News Americas from data inflow from the World Bank. Of that, SKN recorded remittances totalling 11 Million US dollars.
According to the latest World Bank study on Migration and Remittances, money transfers to low- and middle-income countries, including the Caribbean and Latin America have rebounded. After a two year decline, remittances for 2017 have reached a new high.
Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Haiti led the Caribbean Region with the highest receipts.
The Dominican Republic recorded remittances at a whopping USD 6.2 billion in 2017.
Jamaica have receipts of USD 2.5 billion while Haiti recorded receipts of USD 2.4 billion.
Bermuda was fourth on the Caribbean list, receiving USD 1.4 billion in 2017.
Larger territories like Guyana and Trinidad were ranke lower down.
They received receipts of USD 275 million in money transfers sent there in 2017. While the twin-island of Trinidad & Tobago received USD 150 million in 2017; Barbados received receipts of USD 112 million.
Information for the other Caribbean nations in 2017 were as follows:
Dutch Sint Maarten – USD 64 million
Dominica – USD 59 million
St. Vincent & the Grenadines – USD 42 million
St. Lucia – USD 32 million
Antigua & Barbuda – USD 31 million
Aruba – USD 8 million
Suriname – USD 7 million
Grenada – USD 1 million
Globally
According to the Bank estimates, officially recorded remittances to low-and middle-income countries worldwide, reached $466 billion in 2017, an increase of 8.5 percent over $429 billion in 2016.
Global remittances, encompassing flows to high-income countries, grew 7 percent to $613 billion in 2017, from $573 billion in 2016.
A 4.1 percent increase in Remittances in 2018 would ensure receipts of $485 billion. Added to this, global remittances are expected to grow 4.6 percent to $642 billion in 2018.
Remittances flows into Latin America and the Caribbean grew 8.7 percent in 2017, reaching another record high of nearly $80 billion.
The main factors given for higher remittsnces are stronger growth in the United States and tighter enforcement of U.S. immigration rules. It is believed that this may have impacted remittances as migrants remitted savings in anticipation of shorter stays in the United States.
