Guyana received US$466M ($93.2 billion) in remittances last year, according to a report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) which stated that Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) received a total of US$68 billion from relatives overseas for that year.

The report stated that Suriname received US$1.133 billion while Venezuela received US$950M, Barbados received US$292M, Trinidad and Tobago received US$655M, Jamaica received US$1.924 billion and Haiti US$1.049 billion.

Mexico alone received US$24.3 billion, the report said, while South America follows, receiving nearly US$24.2 billion. The report said that though the region’s economy is volatile and experiences boom-and-bust cycles, remittance flows have remained steady for many years.

“Transfers are on average 20 per cent of income per capita, although in some Central American countries such as El Salvador this number is higher,” the report said. It added that on a macro level and as a country’s average in LAC, remittances equate to 3 per cent of GDP and 13 per cent of exports. The report said that for small and economically dependent countries migration constitutes one quarter of their population. It said that until recently, the United States was the main destination; however, “increasing migration to Europe and intraregional mobility has changed this pattern. Italy and Spain are two of the main destinations in Europe, whereas Argentina, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic are the main intraregional places of destination.”

The report said that today, the impact of remittances is recognised in all developing regions of the world, “constituting an important flow of foreign currency to most countries and directly reaching millions of households, totalling approximately 10 per cent of the world’s population.”

The report said: “The importance of remittances to poverty alleviation is obvious, but the potential multiplier effect on economic growth and investment is also significant.”