Economic recovery abroad drives record flow of remittances to Ecuador

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The economic recovery in the United States, Spain, and Italy, among other factors, has also allowed a rebound in the flow of remittances that arrived at the country in the first half of the year, with a record of US$2.008 billion, the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE) informed on Tuesday, October 5.

The number of remittances during the first half of the year was 43.62% more than that observed in the same period of 2020, when it reached US$1.398 billion, the Central Bank specified in a report.

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“The increase in the flow of remittances in the January-June 2021 semester became a historical record in the statistical series compiled by the Central Bank of Ecuador since 1993,″ the institute noted.

The ECB commented that the increase in the flow of remittances is mainly attributed to the stimuli and aid to families granted by the U.S. government, in the context of the measures implemented in that country to face the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, ECB said that it should be taken into account that certain stimuli applied in favor of the population in the U.S., such as the delivery of unemployment bonuses, ended in September of this year, which could affect the projections.

According to the source, the flow of remittances from the United States in the first half of the year amounted to US$1.242 billion, which represents 61.87% of the total received from abroad.

The flow of remittances to Ecuador has also been boosted by economic growth in other destinations of Ecuadorian migrant workers, such as Spain and Italy.

The flow of remittances from Spain in the first half of 2021 amounted to US$446.91 million, a figure slightly lower than the US$448.92 million in the second half of 2020, although higher than the US$321.32 million in the first quarter of last year, the Central Bank said.

The number of remittances from Spain that arrived in Ecuador in the first half of the year represented 22.25% of the total flow received in the period. Meanwhile, the flow from Italy in the first semester of 2021 was US$93.33 million, which represented 4.65% of the total.

During the first half of 2021, the number of remittances from the rest of the world reached US$225.76 million, 11.24 percent of the total, the Ecuadorian Central Bank added in its report.

The document also shows that remittances sent to Ecuador by Ecuadorian workers from countries in the region such as Mexico, Chile, Peru, Canada, and Colombia reached US$122.21 million, accounting for 6.08 percent of the total.

Likewise, Ecuadorian workers residing in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Belgium contributed US$64.01 million to the global flow of remittances, 3.91% of the total.

The Central Bank report also referred to the flow of remittances that foreign workers residing in Ecuador have sent to their countries of origin. In the first half of 2021, US$252.85 million in remittances were sent to Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, a figure that represented 84.07% of the total sent abroad. Likewise, remittances sent to Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti, and Cuba reached US$4.28 million and represented 1.42% of the total flow, the report added.

In the first half of the year, the flow of remittances sent to the world from Ecuador amounted to US$300.76 million, a figure 8.62% higher than that recorded in the second half of 2020, when it was US$230.88 million.