Weekly Report - 10 January 2006

GUATEMALA | Remittances almost hit US$3bn. Final central bank figures for 2005 show remittances from the US reaching US$2.99bn, an increase of 17% over 2004. This makes remittances equivalent to about 10% of Guatemala's GDP; they are the country's second-largest source of hard currency, after exports, which last year brought in an estimated US$3.6bn. Their expansion has been nothing less than spectacular: over the past 10 years they have grown eightfold. The central bank is projecting a 14% increase in the volume of remittances this year, but this depends on the intensity of US action against illegal immigrants, who make up about 60% of the 1.2m Guatemalan expatriates living there.