*Nicaragua’s central bank (BCN) has released new figures on remittances to Nicaragua which show that these totalled US$366.8m in January 2024, up 15.7% on the same month in 2023. The main source countries were the US, which accounted for 80.7% of remittances, followed by Costa Rica (8.2%), and Spain (6.5%). Nicaragua posted a new record of US$4.66bn in remittances in 2023, up 44.5% on the US$3.22bn recorded in 2022, according to figures released by the central bank on 6 February. A report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in January 2024 estimated that remittances would contribute around 28% of GDP in 2023, double the contribution that they made in 2021. The surge has been driven by the rapid increase in Nicaraguan emigrants who have left the country due to the crackdown on dissent by the government led by President Daniel Ortega.
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