Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2012: Differing Behavior Across Subregions

Date
Apr 2013
This paper provides information about the amount of remittances received by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2012. The authors state that this number is nearly the same as in the previous year, resulting in a practically null rate of growth at the regional level. Since the final quarter of 2008, rising unemployment in traditional remittance-sending countries such as the United States, Spain, and Japan, along with the resulting reduction in income of the LAC migrants living in those countries, led to an unprecedented drop in remittances to the region. Remittance flows began to stabilize in 2010, followed by a slight period of recovery in 2011. Nonetheless, the data from 2012 once again show stagnation in growth, with the total value of remittances received by countries in LAC measured at US $61.3 billion.