The Dominican Republic is receiving upwards of US$550 million in family remittances every month. Remittances were up US$592.9 million, or 9.12% in 2019. The payments are making up for the lull in foreign exchange due to a 1.3% drop in the number of tourists visiting the Dominican Republic.
Central Bank statistics reflect the upward trend in family remittances has continued from 2010 to 2019. While remittances were US$3.68 billion in 2010, they are now up to US$7.08 billion, less than a decade later.
Remittances in January 2020 was US$581.9 million, up from US$537 million in 2019.
The Central Bank says the upward trend in the remittances reflects the positive outlook of the US economy. Dominicans in the United States send back 77.5% of the total remittances. Dominicans in Spain account for 10.1%. Remittances from Haiti are the third largest, with 1.5%.
The top 10 source countries for remittances to the Dominican Republic are by order of size the United States, Spain, Haiti, Italy, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Panama, Germany, France and Canada.
The Central Bank reports that since 2011 the National District has been the destination for the most remittance recipients, with more than 30%, followed by the province of Santo Domingo and Santiago.
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El Caribe
28 February 2020