Guatemala: Remittances growth eases in March
Remittances from workers abroad grew 2.0% in March from the same month a year earlier, reaching USD 755 million and marking a deceleration from February’s 2.6% expansion.
In the 12 months through March, remittances ticked up to a cumulative USD 8.3 billion, an all-time high and unchanged from a month earlier. Moreover, cumulative transactions through March represented an 11.2% increase from a year earlier, a slight deceleration from the 12.7% increase recorded in the 12 months through February.
Remittances, an important source of income for Guatemalan households, account for more than a tenth of the country’s output and the vast majority of receipts originate in the United States. As such, remittances are inextricably tied to U.S. employment trends and the broader health of the U.S. economy. Furthermore, the recent surge in remittance inflows has come amid heightened uncertainty over the direction of U.S. immigration policy.