The countries to which El Salvador sends money are increasingly varied and distant, according to the latest data from the Central Reserve Bank (BCR).

Between January and October 2022, when this data is compared to the same period in 2021, the dominant country is undoubtedly the United States of America, something that is mainly due to the fact that this country is home to a large number of Salvadorans, who in terms of volume and percentage is the one that sends almost 94% of the total remittances.

To date, agency data reflects that they have put in up to $6,356.6 million in the first 10 months of this year, a figure that represents an increase of 3.7% over last year, and within that increase, there are countries of origin where they have greatly increased their amount. the money they send to the country.

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One such country, and which is also one of the most surprising, is Namibia, a country located in southern Africa and which in just one year increased remittances by almost 939%, something that puts it in ninth place. among the first 10 origins of Salvadoran remittances.

In this sense, and due to the scarce data handled by the country’s Ministry of Interior and Immigration, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, it is not possible to know the exact number of Salvadorans living in the country. region. , and only counts and operations handled by the BCR are available.

According to the agency, in terms of volume, between January and October 2021, about $478,550 from Namibia entered the country, which translates to about 3,499 delivery operations, while in the same period in 2022 the number of operations was 30,333.

This large increase in shipping operations translated to a total amount of $4.9 million, a higher figure than remittances coming in from Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica or Sweden, from where remittances totaled between $2.0 and $4.8 million during the year this.

This data is surprising because, in relative terms, the number of operations is quite high in relation to the total number of immigrants living in Namibia, which, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), number around 109,000 , the majority of whom are from neighboring Angola.

England, another country of origin that also increased

On the other hand, another country whose remittances to El Salvador have also increased is the UK, in Europe, because according to BCR data, if the first ten months of 2022 are compared to the first months of 2021, the growth has reached 111.6%, because in monetary terms , from the $4.4 million that Salvadorans sent to the country in 2021, to $9.4 million in 2022.

The above translates into a total number of transactions of around 21,546, which is surprising as the number of transactions is lower than those registered in the African country, leading to a higher remittance per operation from the UK.

Thanks to these figures, the region consisting of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland ranks as the fifth highest remittance country by volume, behind only the United States, with $5,965.5 million; Canada, with $54.4 million; Spain, with $23.7 million; and Italy, with $18.8 million.

The podium of the ten countries where Salvadorans sent the most money was completed by Mexico, with $7.1 million; Australia, with $5.2 million; Guatemala, with $5.1 million; Namibia, with $4.9 million; and Panama, with $4.8 million.

However, some of these countries are down compared to 2021.

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Remittances from China are the ones that have fallen the most

From the complete list maintained by BCR, which covers 50 countries, there are some who year after year reduce the amount of remittances they send to El Salvador, and there are even couples in the top ten positions.

However, among all of them, the country of origin of receipt of remittances that experienced the greatest decline was China, which reported a decrease of -45.6% as of October compared to the same period in 2021. In terms of quantity, the amount of remittances received from that country increased from around $355,000 to around $355,000. $193,000.

Other countries that sent remittances to the country decreased were Canada, by -6.8%; Italy, with -8.7%; Guatemala, with -8.2%; Honduras and Costa Rica, -6% and -8%, respectively; and Sweden, with -13.9%.