Remittances fall another 4% between January and July of this year

Remittances sent by Bolivians from abroad between January and July this year fell 4.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to data provided by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

In the first seven months of this year, Bolivia received 776 million dollars, when in a similar period of 2018 the figure received was 809 million dollars.

According to the same Ministry, the fall is due to the return of Bolivians who see “the sustained growth that Bolivia maintains”. The economist Gabriel Espinoza, consulted by this means, interprets that it is due to the crisis in Argentina (n which coincides with the version of the Ministry), and to the restrictions applied by this country, in addition to Brazil, to obtain dollars.

In fact, the largest drop in reserves is recorded on the Argentine side (58 million as of July 2019, 41.0 percent lower than the one received in the same period of 2018). On the other hand, remittances from Brazil decreased 6.1 percent to 67 million dollars. Another country with a significant reduction was Spain, from where 313 million arrived, a 6.5 percent lower figure compared to the one received between January and July of the previous management.

These three countries totaled a negative incidence of 8.2 percentage points and are characterized by weak economic performance,

in Argentina there are high rates of inflation, unemployment and contraction in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Brazil has lower activity rates economic compared to 2018, and in Spain the decrease in the economic expansion rate has been maintained since 2016, in addition to remaining one of the countries with the highest unemployment rate within the European Union, explains the Ministry.

This negative incidence was partially offset by the increase in remittances from the United States, Chile and Italy mainly. Regarding the transfers received in the first seven months of 2018, 138 million dollars were received from the United States, higher by 5.7 percent. 95 million dollars arrived from Chile, with an increase of 20.0 percent and remittances sent from Italy were 15 million, 11.3 percent higher.