KINGSTON, Jamaica - Despite single digit increase in remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2007, inflows into Jamaica grew by 11.6% in the period.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Multi-Lateral Investment Fund estimates that more than US$66.5 billion were remitted to Latin American and the Caribbean last year, a 7% percent increase in 2006. Transfers to Jamaica however, grew US$1.79 billion to US$1.97 billion.
Remittances are transfers of money by foreign workers to the home countries. The sending of remittances is an old phenomenon, with Jamaica having “remittance men” two centuries ago. Back then they were Britons working in Jamaica and sending their remittances home to England. Two hundred years later, remittances now represent the largest source of foreign exchange income for Jamaica. [Read more]
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