Weekly Report - 16 January 2014 (WR-14-02)

GUATEMALA | Remittances reach record high. Remittances sent back home by Guatemalan expatriates reached a new record of US$5.11bn in 2013, according to the central bank, and were up by 6.7% on the previous year. A total of 90% of the remittances came from the US, where 1.5m Guatemalan expatriates live, 60% of them illegally. The record figure came despite the deportation of a record number of 50,200 undocumented Guatemalans last year.
Meanwhile, the labour minister, Carlos Contreras, confirmed a 5% increase in the minimum wage to Q2,096 (US$267) a month for workers in maquila manufacturing plants and the export sector and Q2,380 (US$304) for workers in agricultural and other sectors. President Otto Pérez Molina announced the increases after employers and employees failed to reach an agreement, with the former offering 3.3% and the latter demanding 30% increases. This is effectively no more than an inflationary increase: inflation for the first 11 months of 2013 stood at 4.63%. It also remains below the cost of the basic food basket (CBA) in Guatemala which, for an average family of five, is calculated at Q2,897 (US$369).