El Salvador captures $5.5 billion in remittances

El Salvador received $5.5 billion in remittances in 2018, representing an 8.4 percent increase on the previous year, the Central Bank reported.

Of the total amount, $5.1 billion was received from the United States, where 2.5 million of the 3 million Salvadorans who live abroad currently reside. The only other countries that have Salvadoran overseas communities of any size are Canada and Italy.

Remittances amount to 16 percent of the GDP of El Salvador.