Concluding our reporting on Remittances Received in Nicaragua (Remesas) for 2021, the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN) has now reported that Nicaragua did indeed surpass the US $2billion mark, as was expected.
In a Press Release dated 26th January 2022, the BCN announced that the total money sent home to Nicaragua by those living and working in the exterior was US $2,146.9 million dollars (2.1469 billion).
That grand total represented an increase of 16% when compared with the total for 2020.
The flow of remittances received in Nicaragua in 2021 totaled US $2,146.9 million dollars, registering an increase of US $295.5 million (16 percent growth) with respect to the flow that entered in 2020, which was US $1.851.4 billion. – BCN
Where From?
The “Big Three” continue to be the US, Spain and Costa Rica.
The United States of America remains the number one provider of money send back home to Nicaragua. In 2021, that figure was US $1.3704 billion dollars.
That was 63.8 percent of the total remittances received in 2021 and was 23.3 percent more than 2020.
Spain (usually in third place behind Costa Rica) was in second place with a total of US $301.7 million, US $30.2 million more than 2020 (14.1%) expressed in 301.7 million dollars, for an increase of 30.2 million
Costa Rica, in third place (since the Covid-19 pandemic began having an effect on employment in April 2020) and where an estimated 500,000 Nicaraguans live, sent slightly less money home in 2021 than they did in 2020. Their 2021 total was US $268.7 million, or -0.5% from 2020.
Quite a way behind the top three are Panama in 4th place with 69.9 million dollars), Canada 5th with 30.6 million dollars and El Salvador 6th with 12.9 million dollars.
Where does all the money go?
The BCN has the ability to track money coming into the country and produced a breakdown of the top six regions which together received a total of 71.2% of the total remittances sent home;
Managua receives 30.3% of the total, Chinandega 10.2%, Matagalpa 8.9% and Estelí 8.4%, León 7.4% and Nueva Segovia 6.0%.
Previous Article on Remittances 2021.
