During a recent TV interview about some key points of Nicaragua’s Economy, the Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Iván Acosta said that from January 2021 up to September, the accumulated value of Nicaraguan exports was US $ 2.651 billion.
Acosta predicted that if trends continue for the rest of the year, Nicaraguan exports could close out the year with a figure of US $ 3 billion, a number he has been talking about for the last few months.
Describing 2021 as an “extraordinary year for exports” Acosta explained that it has been driven by the economic reactivation of Nicaragua’s main trading partners. This has resulted in an increase in export volumes and also an increase in the value of the products exported.
Acosta predicts that Nicaragua’s economic growth could be as high as 8% for the 2021 year end.
However, early predictions for next year, 2022, are for between 3.0 and 4.5%.
GOLD
Increased activity in the gold mining sector in Nicaragua as well as the high price of gold on the world markets have resulted in earnings of US $652 million for the category of mining exports from January up to September 2021. That represents a 38.1% increase over the same period in 2020 (Source; CAMINIC – Nicaraguan Mining Chamber).
Nicaragua exported 374 thousand ounces of gold from January to the end of August 2021 which is an increase of 31.6% in volume over the same period last year.
During the same period, the international price of gold reached a 20% accumulated increase and in so doing has driven the activity in this sector. At the time of writing, the US Spot Price of gold was US $1,788.60 per troy ounce. If production and prices are maintained for the rest of this year, the year-end export figure could reach as much as US $870 million dollars. The 2020 year end was US $665 million.
So far this year, Nicaragua has attracted US $ 80 million worth of investments in the mining sector
REMITTANCES
The growth in remittances (money sent home from Nicaraguans living and working abroad) over the last decade or so has been staggering.
So far this year, in the eight months of January to August of 2021, a total of US $ 1.381 billion dollars has already been sent home and the projection is that with four months to go (and including the customary pre-Christmas increase in remittances), 2021 will be another record year.
If the 8 month 2021 average (US $172,625,000) was maintained for the balance of 2021, the almost US $700 million more coming in would push the 2021 year end to over US $2 billion.
The Minister of Finance has acknowledged that remittances from other countries “have been a key part of the reactivation of Nicaragua’s economy”.
TOURISM
According to Iván Acosta, there has been a reactivation of almost all sectors of Nicaragua’s economy, however, singled out the tourism sector as the only one missing.
Figures from the Central Bank of Nicaragua show that tourist revenue at the end of the first semester of 2021 (January to June inclusive) was US $73.8 million. This represents a 54.85% drop in revenue over the same financial period last year when the revenue was US $163 million.
By the quarter, January to March 2021 tourism revenue was US $31.5 million and April to June 2021 was US $42.1 million.
Annual revenue for 2020 was US $198.5 million, which was 61.5% less than the US $513.3 million for 2019.
