The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reported that in June the remittances received reached a figure of US$869.8 million, an amount that exceeds by US$131.9 million those registered in June 2020.
It stands out that, compared to the month of June 2019, the year prior to the pandemic, remittances in June 2021 exhibited a growth of 48.2%, about US$282.8 million more.
Cumulatively, in the first semester of this year, remittances totaled US$5,263.1 million, US $ 1,788.2 million above the same period of 2020, achieving 51.5% year-on-year growth.
The institution emphasizes that, undoubtedly, the improvement in economic conditions in the United States (USA) is one of the main factors that continue to influence the behavior of remittances, since 85.0% of the flows in January came from that country -June.
The Central Bank points out that, in addition to the US, in June the reception of remittances from Spain stands out in the order of 6.9%, a European country with the largest number of Dominican migrants.
Haiti and Italy follow with 0.9% each. The rest of the receipt of remittances is distributed among countries such as Switzerland, Canada, and Panama, among others.
Of the total remittances received, the National District obtained the highest proportion, 33.5%, followed by the Santiago and Santo Domingo provinces, with 14.6% and 8.1%, respectively. This indicates that more than half (56.2%) of remittances are received in metropolitan areas of the country.
The highest proportion of remittance receipts occurred through remittance companies, which processed 81.8% of payments in June of this year.
On the other hand, financial intermediation entities processed 18.2%, a slightly lower proportion than that observed in the same month of 2020.
The BCRD highlights that the outlook on the conditions of the Dominican external sector remains positive since the dynamism of remittances, the growth of exports, plus the process of recovery of tourism, and the new foreign direct investment projects initiated by companies in different sectors of the economy, contribute with a greater flow of foreign currency to the country.
This, together with the Central Bank’s participation in the foreign exchange market through its Electronic Foreign Exchange Trading Platform, has made it possible to maintain the relative stability of the exchange rate, in such a way that in June the exchange rate appreciated 2.1% compared to December 2020.
This greater flow of foreign currency has allowed the accumulation of international reserves, which exceed US$12 billion, approximately 14.4% of GDP, and equivalent to more than 7 months of imports.
Source:
Hoy