RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the rise of the dollar, remittances from Brazilians living abroad to relatives in Brazil have broken records. In September, US$293 million in personal transfer revenues were recorded, according to data from the Central Bank (BC). This was the highest figure for the month of September since official records began in 1995. In September 2019, transfers totaled US$248.6 million.
Between January and September this year, US$2.407 billion were remitted to Brazil, an increase of 11.6 percent over the same period in 2019. According to the head of the Central Bank’s Statistics Department, Fernando Rocha, the more expensive dollar means the money converted into reais in Brazil produces a higher volume of funds. He says this may encourage Brazilians abroad to send more dollars to the country.
“As those abroad sending money to their relatives in Brazil know that the same amount of dollars they send will always represent a larger amount, they could be encouraged to increase that dollar flow,” he said when submitting the foreign accounts report last Friday, October 23rd.
On the other hand, the bullish dollar discourages the sending abroad of funds from Brazil. In September, these transfers reached US$128 million, a drop of 18.9 percent compared to the same month in 2019. In the year to September, the figure reached US$1.065 billion, a 31.1 percent drop against the same period in 2019.
Countries of origin
The bulk of transfers coming to Brazil are from the United States. In September, the volume reached US$147.2 million. Another US$57 million came from the United Kingdom, US$17 million from Portugal, US$9.8 million from Spain, US$7.7 million from Italy and US$7.6 million from Japan.
Source: Agência Brasil