NewsWhore
11-23-2009, 03:10 PM
Freddy Ortiz, president of the Dominican Currency Remittance Companies Association (Aderedi) warns that remittances will be down 12% this year, even more than the 10% drop he forecast in March. This compares to a 6% increase last year and the usual 8-9% annual increases the country experienced from 1995 to 2007. He said that the lull is due to job losses among Dominican migrants living in the US and Spain, who are among the first to feel the effects of the crisis given their low educational level. He said that 82-84% of remittances come from Dominican expats in the US, which is heavily affected by the financial crisis.
As of October this year, family remittances had reached the US$2.279 billion level, according to Central Bank governor Hector Valdez Albizu. Valdez says this is a worldwide phenomenon, and mentioned that Mexico and Guatemala are showing steeper declines of 12.9% and 9.7%, respectively.
An estimated 40% of Dominican families receive remittances. Ortiz said that in some communities many do little more than sit and wait for the remittances to arrive. He gave the examples of towns in the Cibao Valley like Sabana Iglesia and others near the border with Haiti like Vicente Noble and Tamayo where the panorama has changed notably this year.
The decline in remittance levels comes at a time when tourism and industrial free zones contracting revenues have also decreased. Ortiz does not expect recovery to begin until the middle of 2010.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)
As of October this year, family remittances had reached the US$2.279 billion level, according to Central Bank governor Hector Valdez Albizu. Valdez says this is a worldwide phenomenon, and mentioned that Mexico and Guatemala are showing steeper declines of 12.9% and 9.7%, respectively.
An estimated 40% of Dominican families receive remittances. Ortiz said that in some communities many do little more than sit and wait for the remittances to arrive. He gave the examples of towns in the Cibao Valley like Sabana Iglesia and others near the border with Haiti like Vicente Noble and Tamayo where the panorama has changed notably this year.
The decline in remittance levels comes at a time when tourism and industrial free zones contracting revenues have also decreased. Ortiz does not expect recovery to begin until the middle of 2010.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)