New rebound in remittances, with a 23% rise in February

Every day they are coming to Colombia almost $27.5 million in rowsas from abroad and in the first two months the figure already adds up to US$1,617 million, 23% above the first two months of 2022.

According to the figures of the Banco de la República, during 2022 US$9,427 million arrived in the country and that represented an increase of about 10% compared to 2021.

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US$785 million arrived last January18% more than the same month of 2022 and in February the figure rose to US$832, 28.5% more than the same month last year.

For Diego Rodriguez, managing director of Bosk Capital, “We are experiencing a remittance boom, very possibly we will receive more foreign currency from remittances than oil exports from Ecopetrol in a few years”.

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And he explains that the minimum wage in USAwhich is where more than 50% of these resources come from, is close to US$4,000 per month.

“It is a very big difference compared to income in Colombia. Added that this country has a shortage of workerssays Rodriguez.

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He also says that Colombia is experiencing a boom in remittances, recovery of tourism income “and increased exports, added to an expansion of coca crops”.

David Pérez, professor of Finance at the Universidad de los Andes, considers that “In general, having more income is better than having less, but this increase in remittances may be one of the reasons why inflation has not started to come down yet, despite signs of a slowdown in the economy.”.

On the other hand, the multinational Visa presented its research ‘Money travels: adoption of digital remittances 2023’, which, through a survey of more than 14,000 consumers in ten countries, reveals that digital remittances are rapidly becoming the most popular way to move money internationally, compared to go to a bank or physical branch (3. 4 %); insend cashchecks or money orders (12%), or give money to someone else who is traveling to their home country (11%).

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In 2022, for the eighth consecutive year, a record was recorded in the remittance of these resources by Colombians, with US$9,427 million. On average, each day in 2022, close to US$26 million in remittances from abroad arrived in the country, a record figure for the eighth consecutive year, which means that the country received a total of US$9,427 million.

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The data represented an increase of 9.7% compared to 2021 when the figure amounted to US$8,595 million, and compared to a decade ago, it meant an increase of 137%.

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