Draft first regional report on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development

Chapter III
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
Box III.2
Remittances in the Caribbean, 2015
The importance of remittances received in the Caribbean, measured as a percentage of GDP, varies significantly across
the subregion, from countries where they represent less than the global average to others, such as Haiti and Jamaica,
where they account for a significant share of GDP. Between 2011 and 2016, in 11 of the 14 countries for which information
was available, remittances received trended upwards, albeit at very different rates, with Barbados, Curação and Sint
Maarten as the exceptions. The Dominican Republic and Haiti recorded the highest growth rates.
The Caribbean (12 countries): importance of remittances received, 2015
(Percentages of GDP)
World
Aruba
Trinidad and Tobago
Antigua and Barbuda
Saint Lucia
Barbados
Grenada
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Dominica
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Dominican Rep.
Jamaica
Haiti
0.8
0.3
0.5
1.6
2.1
2.4
3.0
4.2
4.4
5.6
7.7
16.9
24 7
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of World Bank, “Personal remittances, received (% of GDP)” [online]
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS.
The cost of remittances tends to affect the size of the amount remitted and, in any case, has an impact on the amounts
received by beneficiaries. In the <strong>first</strong> quarter of 2011, the average cost of sending a remittance to the subregion was 7.3% of
the amount remitted (remittance of US$ 200 as reference), while in the same period in 2017 it stood at 7.8%, higher than fees
to both Central America (4.7%) and South America (6.0%). These averages hide large variations depending on points of origin
and destination, and even between channels and operators for the same origin and destination. The table shows the average
cost of remittances in corridors analysed by the World Bank. Attention is drawn to the fact that costs in the most expensive
corridor (from the United States to Cuba) are double that of the lowest cost option (from Spain to the Dominican Republic).
Average total cost (fee plus exchange-rate spread) for a US$ 200 remittance, in corridors
analysed by the World Bank, second quarter of 2017
(Percentage of amount remitted)
Corridor
Total cost
From Canada to Haiti 9.02
From the United States to Haiti 5.55
From France to Haiti 8.85
From the Dominican Republic to Haiti 9.69
From Canada to Jamaica 9.32
From the United States to Jamaica 7.75
From the United Kingdom to Jamaica 8.62
From the United States to the Dominican Republic 6.62
From the Netherlands to the Dominican Republic 8.09
From Spain to the Dominican Republic 5.45
From the United States to Cuba 10.92
Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of World Bank, “Remittance prices worldwide: making markets more
transparent [online] http://remittanceprices.worldbank.org/en/countrycorridors [date of reference: 15 July 2017].
Source: W. Mejía, “Panorama de la migración internacional en el Caribe: documento elaborado en el marco de la Reunión Regional Latinoamericana y Caribeña
de Expertas y Expertos en Migración Internacional preparatoria del Pacto Mundial para una Migración Segura, Ordenada y Regular”, Population and
Development series, No. 122 (LC/TS.2018/28), Santiago, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), 2018.
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