Ticos Abroad Send Money Home To Buy Houses and Invest

According to figures by the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) - Central Bank - a good part of the dollars coming into country from Costa Ricans abroad is destined to buy homes, savings and investments.

The BCCR estimates that for 2006, us$450 million dollars will be sent home.

The majority of the 80.000 Costa Ricans (2% of the population) living and working abroad are in the United States.

Notwithstanding, Costa Rica is still the Central American country with the lowest amount of remittances. Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have higher remittances as shown by a study done by the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) and the Fondo Multilateral de Inversiones (Fomin) on remittances from the United States to Latin America.

According to Costa Rica's Central Bank, 71% of the us$319 million dollars sent home in 2005 went for things like buying food, health services, education and transportation. The balance is used for other things like savings, buying homes and investments.

The BID/Fomin study reveals that a good part of the money sent home is going to a good use.

The study revealed that Costa Ricans send, on average, us$420 each remittance, which is higher than the average of us$300 for the region, coming mainly from California, Florida, New York and New Jersey. The majority of Costa Ricans living abroad are young, leaving Costa Rica at the age of 25, looking for better economic opportunities, as they face a poor job situation at home.

Luis Alberto Moreon, president of the BID, Tom Terry of the Fondo Multilateral de Inversiones, and Sergio Bendixen, of Bendixen y Asociados, were involved in the study, who concur that the American economy would suffer without the contribution of Latin American immigrants.

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