Remittance inflows into Jamaica declined by US$14 million or 4.7 percent to US$289 million in July this year, compared with inflows of $303 million in July last year, representing the fifth monthly fall, for the year to date, data released by the Central Bank of Jamaica shows.
Remittance inflows, currently on track to be the third consecutive year of decline, fell marginally from January to July this year, to US$1.94 million compared with US$1.95 billion for the same period in 2023.
Remittance flows to Jamaica falls
September 13, 2024 by
Flat remittance flows to Jamaica
August 26, 2024 by
Remittances grew by a mere 0.1 percent for the first six months of 2024 over 2023 to Jamaica, with inflows of US$1.651 billion, from $1.649 billion in 2023.
Total inflows for June, this year fell 2.8 percent to US$278 million from $286 million in 2023 and is worse than the one percent fall in May, with inflows of $287 million, down from $290 million in 2023.
Barring a major pick up in inflows in the last six months of the year, inflows are likely to result in 2024 being the third year of decline since inflows peaked at $3.497 billion in 2021, and yet inflows would be well ahead of $2.9 billion achieved in 2020 and $2.4 billion in 2019.
Surge in remittance inflows to Jamaica
July 28, 2024 by
Total remittance inflows into Jamaica, jumped 5.9 percent in April and 1.2 percent for the four months to April, the second such increase for the year, with April inflows rising to US$288 million from $272 last year.
Inflows for April while up over 2023 is lower than the March intake of US$297.5 million, data released by the country’s central bank show.
Remittance inflows, a major source of foreign exchange for the country, rose by 1.2 percent with total inflows of US$1.085 billion compared with US$1.073 billion to April 2023.
The United States of America continues to be Jamaica’s largest source of remittance flows in April 2024, accounting for 69.7 percent of total flows, down from 70.2 percent in April last year. Other countries which contributed a notable share of remittances for the month were the United Kingdom, with 10.5 percent followed by Canada at 9.1 percent and the Cayman Islands at 6.3 percent, the report from Bank of Jamaica states.
Jamaica tourist arrivals hit the skids
June 10, 2024 by
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After a robust start to stopover arrivals in the early months of the year, data on passenger traffic passing through Jamaica’s two major international airports declined in May, with passenger traffic passing through the Sangster International Airport slipping from 402,000 in May last year to 401,500, down 0.3 percent.
The airport traffic although not telling the full picture of stopover arrivals, is a good barometer of likely outcomes showing that Sangster International Airport which accounts for around 85 percent of visitor arrivals is up just 3.9 percent to 2,294,800 for the year to date.
This is the second month of decline for Montego Bay that had a 4.2 percent reduction to 435,500 in April from 454,500 for the same period last year, bringing the year to date increase then to 4.8 percent to 1.8928 million.
Traffic through Kingston’s Norman Manley continues the decline since the start of the year, with a fall of 1.1 percent to 139,900 compared to 141,500, with traffic for the first five months of this year, declining by 2.2 percent to 667,300 from 682,300.
The data is taken from a report on airport traffic during May published by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico operators of Jamaica’s two major airports.
Remittance inflows to Jamaica slip
June 4, 2024 by
After a modest increase in total remittance inflows into Jamaica in February, remittances for March slipped from the same period last by 1.3 percent to US$297.5 million but was higher than the US$295 million in March 2022, data released by the country’s central bank show.
Remittance inflows which are major source of foreign for the country and remains fairly stable, slipped moderately for the three months to March this year, with total inflows down a mere 0.4 percent to US$797 million compared with US$801 million to March 2023. The decline in March albeit small, is a continuation of several months of decline since May 2023.
The United States of America continues to be Jamaica’s largest source of remittance flows in March 2024, accounting for 69.8 percent of total flows, down from 71.7 percent in March 2023. Other countries which contributed a notable share of remittances for the month were the United Kingdom, with 10.6 percent followed by Canada at 8.7 percent and the Cayman Islands with 6.7 percent, the report from Bank of Jamaica states.
Jamaica’s NIR drops
May 12, 2024 by
Jamaica’s Net International Reserves declined by US$35 million in April moving from US$5.137 billion at the end of March this year to US$5.102 billion at the end of April 2024, data recently released by Bank of Jamaica show.
The balance at the end of April which exceeds the balance of US$4.76 billion at the end of December last year represents 25.78 weeks of Goods & Services Imports and 37.51 weeks of imports of goods, the Bank of Jamaica report stated.
Remittance inflows to Jamaica recover
May 12, 2024 by
Total remittance inflows into Jamaica, a major source of foreign exchange earnings for the country, rose 1.3 percent to US$254 million for February 2024, up from $250 million in February 2023, reversing months of decline since May 2023, data released by the country’s central bank show.
The moderately improved inflows pushed the year to date performance above 2023 with a marginal increase to $499.6 million from $499 million.
For February, the United States of America accounted for the bulk of the inflows at 69.6 percent, down from 71.7 percent in January. The UK followed with 10.8 percent, Canada with 8.5 percent and Cayman Island with 6.8 percent.
Remittance inflows to Jamaica fall
April 26, 2024 by
Remittance inflows to Jamaica continue to decline at the start of 2024 following several months of decline last year, with inflows for January 2024 amounting to US$246 million, down a relatively small 1.1 percent compared with US$248.6 in January 2023.
The decline represents the eighth consecutive month of negative inflows since June last year for the country.
Jamaica’s decline of 1.1 percent was in contrast to the growth of 3.8 percent in January last year. Total inflows last year declined by two percent to US$3.37 billion from US$3.44 billion in 2022. Inflows peaked at US$3.497 billion in 2021.
Jamaica’s NIR at record US$5.14 billion
April 16, 2024 by
Jamaica’s Net Internal Reserves surged to a record US$5.14 billion at the end of March buoyed by a hefty US$438 million inflows in March, moving the reserves from US$4.7 billion at the end of February this year. The surge follows a US$770 million build in the reserves in 2023 that saw the total rising to $4.76 billion at the end of 2023.
An examination of the financial statement of Jamaica’ central bank the inflows came from funds received mainly by the government of Jamaica.
ICInsider.com gather that the government was in the process of selling forward 20 years rental income for the two main international airports as such the inflows could well be related to this. The Minister of Finance in his budget presentation alluded to this.
BOJ pumps life into J$ with high interest rates
March 25, 2024 by
Jamaica’s Central Bank is pumping a great deal of life into the Jamaican dollar, lifting the value from just under J$158 to one United States dollar in February this year, to under $155 currently and driving rates on CDS up by almost 26 percent from a year ago, as the bank moves aggressively to bend year over year inflation within the mandated 4-6 percent, from 6.20 percent to February.
Liquidity in the financial has been drained with BOJ pulling out all available liquidity. At the most recent auction of Certificate of Deposits, the bank offered $42.5 billion to the public and attracted bids amounting to $43.16 billion, resulting in an average yield for successful bids of 11.12 percent, with the rate of 13.29 percent being partial satisfied.
The total outstanding 30-day CDs now amount to $157.5 billion, in contrast, a year ago the total outstanding 30-day CDs was $81.85 billion with the average yield at that auction being 8.85 percent.
Revaluation of the Jamaican dollar is critically important in curbing inflation as it cuts the cost of imported items and, most importantly, the cost of fuel that feeds into a wide array of goods and services. These include petrol for vehicles, electricity for households and businesses and powering the water supply. Of course, it affects other imported items such as foods clothing to name just two.
