However, net remittance is down 0.4 per cent or US$6.1 million for fiscal year-to-date

Durrant Pate/ Contributor

Net remittance inflows in Jamaica for August 2022 increased by 15.7 per cent or US$39.4 million to US$289.7 million, relative to August 2021.

This is the first increase in remittances since April 2022. The jump in net remittance is reflective of an increase in gross remittance inflows of 12.1 per cent or US$34.6 million, along with a decline of 21.9 per cent or US$4.9 million in outflows.

The advance in gross remittance inflows was attributable to an advance of 14.5 per cent or US$32.8 million in remittance companies, marginal bolstered by an increase of 3.6 per cent or US$1.7 million in other remittances. The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) says the jump was partly attributable to more money coming in to finance back-to-school expenses.

The BOJ latest remittance bulletin for August 2022 showed that for the eight-month period January to August 2022, net remittance inflows declined by US$26.1 million or 0.1 per cent to US$2.11 billion relative to the previous corresponding period.

Fiscal-Year-to-August 2022

Net remittance inflows for the fiscal year-to-date August 2022 amounted to US$1.39 billion, which is down 0.4 per cent or US$6.1 million relative to the corresponding period in the 2021-22 fiscal year. This decline emanated from a reduction of 1.5 per cent or US$22.9 million in total remittance inflows partly offset by a decrease of 17.0 per cent or US$16.8 million in total remittance outflows.

The largest source market of remittance flows to Jamaica for August 2022 continued to be the United States. Remittances from there accounted for 69.9 per cent of total flows down from 70.0 per cent recorded for August 2021.

Other source countries which contributed a notable share of remittances for the month were Canada at 11.8 per cent, followed by UK and the Cayman Islands at nine per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively.

For the January to August 2022 period remittance inflows to Jamaica amounted to US$2.26 billion. This outturn represented a decline of 1.5 per cent, as opposed to Guatemala, which registered growth of 24.0 per cent while Mexico and El Salvador registered growth of 15.3 per cent and 3.4 per cent, respectively for the same period.