Remittances from abroad in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first nine months of last year amounted to about two billion and 77 million BAM, which is 2.82 percent more than in the same period in 2018, when remittances amounted to about two billion and 20 million BAM, was explained to Srna news agency from the Central Bank of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The Central Bank states that remittances in recent years amount to about eight percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
“Certainly, a new wave of economic emigration in recent years has contributed to remittances towards Bosnia, since they still have close social ties with relatives in their homeland,” the Central Bank said.
Economic analyst Igor Gavran told Srna that the growing trend of remittances in Bosnia is a good indicator of the growing number of expatriates, but also of poorer living conditions, as well as the growing need for domestic remittances that need these remittances.
“The size of the share of these remittances in GDP again speaks to their high value, but also to low GDP, that is, the underdeveloped economy and the insufficient economic activity in Bosnia that generate it,” Gavran explained.
He emphasized that a good part of the domestic economy is kept alive by remittances because they allow domestic consumption beyond real domestic potential and consumer power as it would have been without foreign inflows.
According to Gavran, further growth of the value of remittances from abroad can be expected in Bosnia in the coming period, given the trends of emigration and the absence of significant changes in the economic development of the country. Remittances from abroad in Bosnia in 2016 amounted to almost 2.44 billion BAM, in 2017 2.64 billion BAM and in 2018 almost 2.7 billion BAM.
