Remittances grew in 2011

Remittances, the money Salvadorans living and working abroad send back to their families, rebounded in 2011.  Making up a sixth of the nation's economy, remittances are one of the most important economic drivers for El Salvador.  Remittances had fallen with the downturn in the US economy as many Salvadoran migrants were unable to find jobs.  According to Inside Costa Rica:

The Central Bank of Reserve (BCR) of El Salvador reported on Wednesday that the country received 3.64 billion dollars in family remittances from abroad in 2011, 6.4 percent more than in 2010.

The Bureau for Economic and Statistics Studies, attached to the BCR, said that in physical terms, that figure accounts for 217.9 million dollars more than in the previous year.

Last year's family remittances accounted for about 16 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), said the BCR. Of the total family remittances, the banking system paid 74.1 percent to beneficiaries, equivalent to 2.7 billion dollars.

In the fourth quarter of 2011 reported the largest growth (9.6 percent), due to better indicators in the U.S. economy, the BCR reported.