Remittances to St Vincent and the Grenadines for the year 2017 were USD 42 million.
According to latest remittance inflow data from the World Bank, USD 13.5 billion was sent back to the Caribbean alone by immigrants globally.
The latest World Bank study on Migration and Remittances said money transfers to low- and middle-income countries, including the Caribbean and Latin America, rebounded to a record level in 2017 after two consecutive years of decline.
Remittances are expected to continue to increase in 2018, by 4.1 percent to reach $485 billion. Global remittances are expected to grow 4.6 percent to $642 billion in 2018.
Remittances flows into Latin America and the Caribbean grew 8.7 percent in 2017, reaching another record high of nearly $80 billion.
The main factors given are stronger growth in the United States and tighter enforcement of U.S. immigration rules, which may have impacted remittances as migrants remitted savings in anticipation of shorter stays in the United States.
Other Caribbean nations received much lower receipts in 2017 as follows:
Dutch Sint Maarten – USD 64 million
Dominica – USD 59 million
St. Lucia – USD 32 million
Antigua & Barbuda – USD 31 million
Kitts & Nevis – USD 11 million
Aruba – USD 8 million
Suriname – USD 7 million
Grenada – USD 1 million