SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The money sent home to El Salvador by migrants plunged 40% at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but then recovered to end 2020 at a record high of $5.92 billion, authorities said Monday.
The country’s central bank said the figure was 4.8% higher than in 2019, or almost $270 million more.
Remittances account for 23% percent of El Salvador’s gross domestic product and benefit about 360,000 households.
The lowest point was in April, when remittances were down 40% as compared to the same month of 2019, but by June they started recovering.
The vast majority of Salvadoran migrants, almost 2 million, work in the United States, where the economic effects of the pandemic resulted in lost income.
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