According to figures from the Bank of the Republic, during the first quarter of this year the remittances that Colombians and other citizens sent to the country totaled US$2,475 million, a figure that represented an increase of 34.2 percent compared to what had arrived in the same period of 2022.
From the United States, 53 percent of these resources arrived with US$1,326 million, which has meant an increase of 27.7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022, when a total of US$1,038 million was sent from that destination, with which it was the country that grew the most in sending these resources.
Spain was the second issuing country in the January and March period, with a total of US$312 million, but it had a drop of US$11 million in those resources, since in the first quarter of 2022 the figure had risen to US$323 million.
In the first quarter of this year, US$1,326 million arrived from the United States, US$312 million from Spain, US$119 million from Chile, US$82 million from the United Kingdom, and US$6 million from Venezuela. The latter has shown a reactivation, after several years in which the figures fell at amounts that do not reach US$100,000 per month.
The money that Colombians send to the country is equivalent to 17 percent of exports.
The evaluation by departments
With US$650 million at the end of the first quarter of the year, the department of Valle del Cauca consolidated itself as the largest recipient of remittances, representing 20 percent of the national total.
From the United States, in the first three months of the year, US$295 million in money orders from workers arrived in that department, followed by those sent by those who live in Spain, with US$109 million already, Chile is the country of destination, with US$45.5 million.
Remittances worth US$45.3 million were sent from the United Kingdom.
From other countries they sent a total of US$154 million to Valle del Cauca in the first three months of this year.
From the United States, US$295 million in money orders from workers arrived in that department in the first three months of the year.followed by those sent by those who live in Spain, with US$109 million, and then Chile as the destination country, with US$45.5 million.
Remittances worth US$45.3 million were sent from the United Kingdom.
From other countries they sent a total of US$154 million to Valle del Cauca in the first three months of this year.
Remittances, keys to the Colombian economy
US$450 million arrived in the department of Antioquia between January and March, of which US$42 million arrived from Spain, US$11 million from Chile and US$8 million from the United Kingdom.
Another major recipient of remittances, according to the statistics of the Bank of the Republic, it is the department of Risaralda, that in the first quarter of the year received a total of US$118 million from all countries, of which US$62 million came from the United States, US$28 million from Spain, US$7 million from Chile, US$4 million from the United Kingdom, and so on. same, US$160,000 from the neighboring country, Venezuela.
