In spite of the contraction in the global economy, Jamaica’s remittance inflows continue to surge based on the latest out-turn for November 2020, showing a big jump of 25.7% to US$220.9 million.

This represented a rise of US$45.2 million relative to November 2019 out-turn. The increase resulted from a jump in gross remittance inflows of 18.7 per cent or US$37.5 million, which was further aided by a decrease of 32.0 per cent or US$7.7 million in outflows.

The increase in gross remittance inflows emanated from an improvement of 23.5 per cent in inflows via remittance companies, partially offset by a decline in other remittances of 2.4 per cent for the month of November. For the period April to November 2020, net remittance inflows of US$1.89 billion increased by 30.8 per cent or US$446.2 million relative to the corresponding period in 2019.

According to the BOJ’s November 2020 Remittance Bulletin, “this improvement resulted from an increase of 25.2 per cent or US$410.2 million in total remittance inflows, further driven by a decline of 19.8 per cent or US$36.0 million in total remittance outflows. The improvement in inflows was primarily driven by an increase of 29.1 per cent in remittance companies, while Other Remittances recorded an increase of 5.4 per cent.”

Source markets for remittances

The largest source market of remittances flows to Jamaica for November 2020 was the United States, whose share increased to 68.1 per cent, up from 64.2 per cent recorded for November 2019. Other source countries which contributed a notable share of remittances for the month were the United Kingdom at 11.6 per cent, followed by Canada and the Cayman Islands at 10.2 per cent and 6.1 per cent, respectively.

In comparison with other countries, Jamaica’s growth rate in remittance inflows for the period, January to November 2020 of 19.3 per cent, was higher than that of Mexico, which registered a growth rate of 12.1 per cent. Guatemala and El Salvador also registered growth for the period, with increases of roughly 5.9 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.

Overall, the January to November 2020 period Jamaica had remittance inflows totalling US$2.60 billion.