A $4,362.4 million amounted to the remittances sent by Ecuadorians from abroad in 2021. It was a record figure that exceeds the remittances received in 2020 and 2019 by more than $1,000 million.
It is that according to the figures of the balance of payments published by the Central Bank of Ecuadorin 2020 remittances were $3,337 million, and in 2019 these had been placed at $3,234 million, that is, slightly below those of 2020.
JanIn 2021, foreign workers residing in the country also sent remittances abroad from Ecuador, for $595.1 million. This figure is slightly higher than that recorded in 2020, which was $507 million. It is also important to note that in 2019 remittances reached $639.2 million.
On the subject of remittances, Marcos López, former member of the Board of the Central Bank, considered that there are two factors that have come together to achieve the record figure in 2021. In the first instance, 2020 was a very complex year due to the entire COVID problem, which contracted the economy and for this reason there was practically no growth in remittances compared to 2019. Additionally, in 2021 there was already a greater reactivation global economy. In 2021, the vaccine was obtained and capacity began to open in different businesses. He assured that, for example, in the United States, a great demand for labor could be seen, since in restaurants, supermarket chains, among others, they sought to hire personnel. What was happening at that time was that many residents and people with protection benefits preferred not to go to work to continue receiving subsidies. It was then that the migrant workforce was willing to do the various jobs and therefore they were able to send remittances.
According to López, the migrants have been aware of the hard times that Ecuador has experienced and for this reason they also showed their concern for their relatives, sending the resources.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Ecuador said in March that remittances in 2021 were a key factor in the country’s economic recovery, especially since the 4.2% growth that the country had was leveraged in household consumption. . This consumption was greatly facilitated by remittances from abroad.
These analyzes coincide with what is happening at the regional level. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) maintained that one of the great surprises that the COVID-19 pandemic gave was the growth in remittances that migrants sent and still send to their countries of origin. Despite the crisis, remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean were not only maintained, but also increased to historical levels. The latest data that we consolidate from the Inter-American Development Bank show that the sending of remittances to Americas and the Caribbean set a record in 2021, reaching a total of $128 billion, its highest growth in almost 20 years.
The recovery of employment in the countries of residence of migrants, especially full-time employment in the United States, and the continuation of some government financial support, marked an improvement in their income during 2021. This allowed during these last months of 2021 to increase the sending of their remittances to alleviate the remaining effects of the pandemic among their relatives in the countries of origin, said the multilateral entity.
When asked about what could happen in 2022 with the economy and remittances, López commented that the news about city lockdowns in Asia due to COVID and Russia’s war against Ukraine are issues that could make 2022 complex; however, he also commented that it is returning to a sort of post-COVID normality in which we are already joining the works with more fluidity. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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