Remittance inflows into Jamaica amount to US$298 million for December 2024, a decline of 5 percent or a mere US$13 million compared to December 2023.
Despite the fall in December last year, remittance inflows into Jamaica continue to be resilient with just a 0.4 percent slippage to US$3.357 billion, compared to the inflows of US$3.37 billion in 2023. Inflows for 2024 are the lowest in four years but remain well above the U$2.98 billion inflows in 2020, the year of a major surge that pushed the amount just under the $3 billion mark it has been at since that year.
Jamaica’s decline in 2024 compared adversely with growth of 8.6 percent for Guatemala, 2.3 percent Mexico and 1.7 percent for El Salvador, the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) release disclosed.
According to the data released by BOJ remittances in 2023 amounts to 17.4 of the country’s GDP and is down from 24 percent in 2021.
Remittance inflows for 2024 to November amassed US$3.059 billion, an increase of just 0.1 percent over the similar period in 2023. It seems set to exceed the US$3.3 billion generated in 2023. If achieved, it would be the first year since the massive increase in 2021 that there has been an annual increase.
Remittances inflows to Jamaica which ended at US$2.4 billion in 2019 surged to US$2.9 billion in 2020 peaking at US$3.497 billion in 2021 and have remained above $3.3 billion since and are on track to match the US$3.37 billion received in calendar year 2023.
Reserves climbed by $200 million in September from August to a then record high. Although not stated, it appears that the rise is coming mainly from the proceeds of the bond issue supported by future airport rental income, with the Bank of Jamaica report showing claims on the government sector falling by nearly US$300 million in October, an indication that the rise in the NIR is related to the government.
Remittance inflows to Jamaica climbed or 3.6 percent by US$10.4 million to US$299.6 million from US$289.2 million for the same period in 2023 and represent the third month of the year with an increase.
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.
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 moderately improved inflows pushed the year to date performance above 2023 with a marginal increase to $499.6 million from $499 million.