Remittances in Honduras Up 25.8% Between January and February

Tegucigalpa, Mar 22 Honduras received 1,192.1 million dollars between January and February in family remittances, 25.8% more than in the same period in 2021, the country's Central Bank (BCH) reported on Tuesday. The amount of remittances in the first two months of 2022 exceeded $947.9 million in the same period a year ago, according to a BCH report. In January, Honduras received $583.4 million in remittances, a figure that increased to $608.7 million in February, the state-issuing bank added. Of the total remittances, more than 80% come from the United States, where just over a million Hondurans live legally and illegally, the document notes. It is followed, in that order, by Spain (11.5 per cent), Mexico (2.4 per cent), Costa Rica (1.5 per cent) and from Canada and Guatemala (4.3%), according to the Central Bank. Mothers in Honduras are the main recipients of remittances (36.8%), followed by siblings (19.2%), children (13.6%), fathers (7.4%) and spouses (7.1%), she added. 79.6% of Honduran families who receive this money use it mostly to pay for food, health services and education, and 6.4% spend it on fixed capital investment, BCH said. Honduras raised $7.37 billion in remittances in 2021, 28.3% more than the 5,741.1 million received in 2020, according to official figures. Remittances represent about 20 per cent of the Central American country's gross domestic product (GDP). Remittances are the main source of foreign exchange in the country, above exports such as coffee, maquila products, shrimp and others, the document details. The receipt of remittances in Honduras dates back to the massive emigration of that country's nationals following the devastating passage of Hurricane Mitch through Central America in late 1998. In 1999, the first year for which the Bank of Honduras offers results, remittances amounted to around 320 million dollars (adjusted to the current exchange rate).