The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reported the country received US$10.15 billion in remittances in 2023, up 3.1% from the previous year.
Remittances in December were US$945 million, up 0.1% compared to December 2022.
Most of the remittances come from Dominicans who live in the United States. Low unemployment in the United States had a positive impact.
The BCRD explains that the strong US economy positively influenced the flow of remittances. 84.2% or US$681.7 million of the formal currency flows in December 2023, for instance, originated from the United States.
The Central Bank says that the non-manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) registered a value of 50.6 in December, evidence of the sustained expansion of the services sector, where most of the Dominican diaspora is employed.
The BCRD reports remittances from Spain were US$48.0 million, or 5.9% of the total, followed by remittances from Haiti, 1.3%, and Italy, 0.8%. There are also large communities of Dominicans living in Switzerland, Canada and Panama that sent home cash.
As is the general trend, most of the remittances were sent to urban areas. Persons living in the National District received 36.1%, persons living in Santiago 13.2%, and in Santo Domingo province 9.0%.
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Central Bank
16 January 2024