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Remittances keep growing

Thursday, October 4, 2012


Remittances, mainly from emigrants in the United States, are an important part of the economies of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose single biggest export is labor.

Honduras has made an impressive effort in coffee production in recent years, becoming the world's fourth leading coffee exporter, ahead of Colombia, with earnings from the current coffee crop expected to reach about $1.3 billion.

But remittances from Honduran emigrants brought in $1.9 billion In just the first eight months of this year.

Emigrants from El Salvador sent $2.6 billion to their families back home in the first eight months of the year, a 17 percent increase on the same period of 2011.

Meanwhile, Guatemala's emigrants in the same period sent home $3.2 billion, a 10 percent year-on-year increase.

The results are even more impressive, considering they come at a time of economic difficulty in the United States.

Maybe Mitt Romney and Barack Obama should ask migrants how Americans too can generate a few billion additional dollars.