Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Remittances continue to be supported by thousands of Honduran families, and 2020 was no exception.
Despite the forecasts for the first half, where an abrupt fall was expected, a week before the end of the previous year reached a record figure of 5,595.5 million of dollars (L135,411 million).
The Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) reported through its weekly executive summary on December 22 that the main foreign exchange earnings in the country were family remittances, which accounted for almost 50% (47.4%) of the ‘total revenue and recorded an increase of $ 229 million compared to $ 5,366.5 million earned on the same date in 2019.
In percentage figures, the year-on-year increase was 4.3%.
In 2019, the increase in remittances was 13%, reaching 5.4 billion, so many experts believe that without the pandemic and the global economic crisis the rise would have been much greater in 2020.
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Although international agencies had predicted a drop of up to 20% in remittance inflows to Honduras this did not happen. According to the Social Forum on External Debt and Development in Honduras (Fosdeh), it was a product that in the countries where remittances are sent, reopening was faster and economic activities did not cease, despite some restrictions. way that it was easier to generate income for Honduran migrants.
The main countries where family remittances come from are mostly from the United States with a representation of 80%.
Secondly Spain with 8%, then Costa Rica with 2%, Mexico with 1.6% and other countries with 8.2%.
Figures of the Permanent Household Survey of the National Statistics Institute (INE) reveal that family remittances support nearly 190,000 Honduran households and constitute the third source of income for more than 2.2 million households, surpassed solely by wages and earnings by own source.
Claudio Salgado, an economist, pointed out that foreign investment continues to decline and that is why the country continues to depend on the money sent by migrants.
The Comprehensive Returned Migrant Care System reported that in 2020, 21,879 Hondurans were deported, mostly adult men.