The improvement in employment conditions in countries such as the United States and the rebound in shipments to the country from other latitudes – by Colombians residing and working abroad – led to a new historical record set last year. the arrival of remittance to the country, resources that became one of the levers of household consumption.
According to detailed official data, published by the Bank of the Republic, a monetary torrent of $ 6,773 million entered the country last year, a figure that implied an increase of 7.1 percent over the $ 6,325.5 million of the 2018.
The figures, published in the Issuer’s balance of payments, show that compared to that year, in 2019 the thousands of inhabitants who receive this help from their relatives abroad had at their disposal 447 million dollars more than in 2018.
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This figure is equivalent to about 1.46 billion pesos, for a large total equivalent to 22.2 billion pesos, taking into account that the representative rate of the average market last year was 3,281 pesos.
The 6,773 million dollars of remittances of 2019 involved the fourth annual online record, since in 2018 its value was 6,325.5 million, in 2017 it closed at 5,511.4 million dollars and in 2016 it was located at 4,868.8 millions of dollars.
With the 2019 growth of 7.1 percent, the Issuer’s statistics show that this pace is moderating, after the growth of 13.2 percent and 14.8 percent in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
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When looking at the data for the fourth quarter, the figures show that December was the month of the rebound, with growth of 5.8 percent compared to that same month of 2018, since in October and November two monthly falls were reported, the which were the first after 32 consecutive months of growth,
And discounting inflation, the real variation
From less to more
According to the figures of the Bank of the Republic, had it not been for the downturn of October and November, the total remittances of 2019 could have set a higher record, since in the fourth quarter the growth of foreign exchange was 0.61 percent, going from 1,764.5 million dollars between October and November 2018 to 1,775.1 million dollars in the same period last year.
In the first quarter of 2019, the money orders of Colombians abroad were 1,512.8 million dollars, then reached 1,705.8 million dollars between April and June, point from which 1,778.8 million dollars rose in the third quarter (being the highest of the four periods) and closing at 1,775.1 million dollars mentioned for the fourth quarter of the year.
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