Remittances to Honduras increased 25.8% between January and February 2022
Honduras received USD 1,192.1 million between January and February in remittances to families, an increase of 25.8% over the same period of 2021, the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) reported. According to a BCH report, remittances in the first two months of 2022 exceeded USD 947.9 million in the same period last year.
The state-owned issuing bank added that in January Honduras received USD 583.4 million in remittances, a figure that rose to USD 608.7 million in February. The document indicates that more than 80 percent of all remittances came from the United States, where just over one million Hondurans live both legally and illegally. Following, in that order, are Spain (11.5%), Mexico (2.4%), Costa Rica (1.5%), Canada and Guatemala (4.3%), according to the Central Bank. In Honduras, mothers are the main recipients of remittances (36.8%), followed by siblings (19.2%), children (13.6%), fathers (7.4%), and spouses (7.1%). The 79.6% of families in Honduras receive this money mainly to pay for food, health services and education, and 6.4% use it for fixed capital investments, said the BCH.
Honduras received USD 7,370 million in remittances in 2021, 28.3% more than the USD 5,741.1 million it received in 2020, according to official figures. Remittances represent close to 20% of the Central American country’s GDP, thus being the country’s main source of foreign exchange, higher than exports such as coffee, maquila products, shrimp, etc.
Remittances in Honduras emerged from the emigration of its citizens after Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America at the end of 1998. In 1999, the first year in which Banco de Honduras presented its results, remittances were around USD 320 million (adjusted at the current exchange rate).
Astrid Villeda
Associate
García & Bodán
Honduras