The sending of foreign currency by Colombian workers from abroad in 2021 will mark an unprecedented record in history. For the immediately previous year, this income called remittances would exceed 8,000 million dollars, a value never seen before, which will favor household consumption and the reactivation of the economy in general.
In November of last year alone, the country received 817.19 million dollars on account of these transfers, which means an increase of more than 30% compared to the figure for the same month of 2020. It is also the highest figure of the first 11 months.
In addition, according to data from the Banco de la República, as of November, currency shipments totaled 7,776 million dollars so far this year, a figure that is historical, since it represents an increase of 24.5% compared to the same period. of 2020.
Thus, the Banco de la República will announce the official number of remittances for 2021 on January 28. However, there are figures close to the expected data: that of the net transfers of the exchange balance, which in all of 2021 totaled 10,691 million dollars.
Even starting from this scenario, several analysts consulted by LR agreed that the level of remittances will exceed the expected value (8,000 dollars) by a wide margin.
Jackeline Piraján, Scotiabank Colpatria economist, stated that the value of remittances for all of 2021 may be close to 8,650 million dollars as a result of the better activity at the international level and the maintenance of high levels of fiscal stimulus in countries such as the United States, during part of the year.
However, as they are facing higher inflation globally, “some workers abroad could moderate the sending of resources to their countries of origin, since their cost of living may be increasing in their country of work,” said Piraján.
In his turn, Gustavo Acero, an economist at Banco de Bogotá, forecast remittances at 8,300 million dollars, so this entry would position itself as one of the ones that generates the most income for the country after oil exports.
Corficolombiana gave its projection from a much more conservative scenario. José Luis Mojica, an economic analyst at the entity, visualized the result at 8.2 billion, which would be 16% above pre-pandemic levels.
Another effect of the increase in remittances is the decrease in the Nation’s current account deficit.
