Apr 2009 Financial News

Dollar remittances to drop

Apr 01, 2009

The amount of money sent home by foreign workers - most in the United States - is expected to fall for Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole this year, causing hardship for millions, the Inter-American Development Bank said last week.

Remittances were counted at US$30.9 billion in 2000, when the bank started monitoring them.

"A reduction means social problems because remittances are a principle source of income for millions of families," said IADB President Luis Alberto Moreno.

The bank said the slide - due to global economic setbacks and tighter US immigration controls - began in the fourth quarter of 2008,

Remittances to Caribbean countries slid six per cent in the fourth quarter and those in Central America were down four per cent compared to the same period a year earlier. Worst hit was the Andean region, where an 18 per cent rise in the first quarter became a 12 per cent dive in the fourth.

According to the bank, Mexico received the most money from its citizens abroad, with US$25 billion for the year. It was followed by Brazil, at US$7.2 billion; Colombia, US$4.8 billion; Guatemala, US$4.3 billion; El Salvador, US$3.8 billion; the Dominican Republic, US$3.1 billion and Peru, US$3 billion.

/AP WASHINGTON


Source:
Trinidad Express
Wednesday, April 1st 2009

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business_mag?id=161459609