The COVID-19 Pandemic and Haiti's Changing Remittance Landscape

In 2020, analyses from multilateral institutions predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic would hamper remittance transfers to the Latin America and Caribbean region; yet they showed steady increases in 2020 and 2021. Haiti’s remittance economy has largely maintained its vitality, helping families weath...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Cela, Toni, Fidálgo, Mario, Marcelin, Louis Herns
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2022
Country:Costa Rica
Institution:Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica
Repository:Portal de Revistas UNA
Language:English
Spanish
OAI Identifier:oai:www.revistas.una.ac.cr:article/17808
Online Access:https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/ri/article/view/17808
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Brasil
Chile
COVID-19
Haití
migración sur-sur
remesas
Brazil
Haiti
South-South migration
remittances
Description
Summary:In 2020, analyses from multilateral institutions predicted that the COVID-19 pandemic would hamper remittance transfers to the Latin America and Caribbean region; yet they showed steady increases in 2020 and 2021. Haiti’s remittance economy has largely maintained its vitality, helping families weather multiple crises. Drawing on data from a study of the impact of COVID-19 on Haitian households and remittance data from Haiti’s Central Bank, this article examines Haiti’s changing remittance landscape, with particular attention paid to new migratory flows to Latin America that have emerged since the January 2010 earthquake. Considering the increase in migration to Brazil and Chile, among other countries, between 2010 and 2020, we ask, what role have remittances from South America played in Haitian households leading up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic?