Caribbean & Central America - February 2010 (ISSN 1741-4458)

The Banco Central de Nicaragua (BCN) reported that the remittance inflow in 2009 was down by 6.07% on 2008's at US$768m. This performance was significantly better than most other countries in the region where double digit drops were the norm. In 2008 Nicaragua had received US$818m in remittances. The central bank said that remittances had been US$740m in 2007; US$698m in 2006; US$616m in 2005 and US$519m in 2004. Remittances are still larger than aid inflows which the central bank said came to US$657m in 2009. Remittances are equivalent to 12.4% of the country's GDP which the central bank put at US$6.2bn. The bulk of the remittances come from the US. The central bank said that US$560m of the inflow originated from the US. The next biggest source of remittances is Costa Rica, which accounted for US$190m. About 1m Nicaraguans are expatriates. As most of them are undocumented, it is impossible to say how many live where, but the difference in the size of the flows suggests that the split is probably roughly two-thirds US and one third Costa Rica.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 223 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial