Caribbean & Central America - July 2017 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Remittances: In the first five months of 2017, El Salvador received remittances in excess of US$2bn from expatriates living in the US, up 10.8% on the same period last year according to the central bank (BCR). The same can be said for Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, according to the BCR, with remittances up by 14.9%, 13.3%, and 6.8% respectively.

El Salvador’s economy minister, Tharsis Salomón López, claimed during a press conference on 30 June that the increase in remittances to Latin America was directly attributable to the anti-immigrant discourse of US President Donald Trump. López said that it was essential that El Salvador’s financial system take advantage of the situation by investing in the domestic economy, principally housing or creating microenterprises.