It is well known that the three pillars of the current Dominican economy are tourism, gold and free zone exports and remittances from overseas Dominicans. So far this year, the remittances have yielded US$5.67 billion, US$1.5 billion more than 2019, the last “good year” before the Covid-19 pandemic. Tourism has recovered according to all indicators, gold currently constitutes the single-largest item for export, and the free zones continue to grow and prosper.
Things are looking up. According to the Central Bank, the most recent data shows that the monthly remittance average is steady at US$800 million. According to the bank, the average amount of remittances received during the 2015-2019 period was somewhat over US$500 million.
The 2022 figures are actually below those of 2021. The United States economy stimulus checks permitted overseas Dominicans to send back here more money in 2021.
Even better, there are over 11 million job opening at the present time in the United States. Good news for the economy in the US is better news for the Dominican Republic. 84% of all remittances come from the United States.
Read more in Spanish:
Central Bank
El Caribe
El Dia
15 August 2022