RemittancesGateway.org

Ecuador remittances fall 21 pct in first 6 months

Tuesday, 18 August 2009 09:31

Source: Forbes

Ecuador's central bank says the money that citizens living abroad sent home during the first six months of the year dropped 21 percent from the same period of 2008.

A central bank report issued Monday says remittances totaled $1.2 billion from January through June, down from $1.5 billion in the first half of last year. The report blames rising unemployment in the United States and the European Union.

Remittances plunged 22 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, leaving last year down 8.6 percent from 2007.

Remittances and crude oil exports are the two pillars of Ecuador's dollarized economy, in place since Ecuador adopted the U.S. dollar amid a hyperinflation crisis in 2000.