During January, remittances totaled $252.4 million, 8.4% less than for the same period in 2008, when they were $275.5 million.
La Prensa Libre published on its website: "For now, neither the economic cabinet nor the Central Reserve Bank have spoken about the reasons for the decline, even though a similar situation occurred during four months last year, and it was blamed on the economic crisis in the United States which is considered the source of 90% of these remittances."
This special report by Fitch examines the credit risk dynamics of El Salvador as it coincides with the end of a political cycle in the country.
Financial pressures and external liquidity, exacerbated by political uncertainty during a pre-electoral period, led Fitch to modify the Prespectives of the IDRs of sovereign risk in the long-term regarding foreign and local currency in October 2008.
Inflation is declining and economic growth is decelerating - Analysis of the Executive Secretary of the Central American Monetary Counsel.
The excessive volatility in the financial markets and the low investor and consumer confidence levels are omens that the crisis is going to last, which is being translated into lower levels of consumption and investment and high unemployment rates in the most developed countries.
In 2008 there was an average monthly income of $315.6 million, higher than the $307.9 average for 2007.
Elsalvador.com reports: "Salvadorans who reside abroad sent $3.78 billion to their families at home in 2008, an increase of 2.5%, the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) reported on Tuesday.
The bank said that "the remittances by family members continued to be positive despite the global economic condition, particularly in the United States.
Central American banks were booming -- but close ties with the USA darken their future.
Central American was undergoing an interesting banking system evolution. Now the crisis has hit hard. Remittances have dropped and so has international business. More expensive capital halts investments in infrastructure and global liquidity restrictions will have a strong impact.
The adjustment in the family economy has begun to extend to to most of the Dominican and Latin American families that live in the US, even though it affects those from Central American and the Caribbean in particular; those countries are the ones that depend most on remittances sent by its citizens from the US.
The drop in remittances sent to Central America and Mexico, due to the financial crisis in the US, is a "very strong blow" that requires a regional program.
"The drop in remittances is a very strong blow that is starting to be felt" in Central America, said Alejandro Solorzano, president of the Central American Parliament commission on International Relations.
Manuel Orozco, coordinator for the Inter-American Dialogue Development and Remittances Program, recommended to lawmakers from Central America and the Dominican Republic that they encourage that the banking system be used to send family remittances.
Orozco pointed out that a Central American immigrant sends his family between $3,000 and $3,500 on average per year.
The influx of dollars via remittances is close to reaching the figure for exports.
Remittances from family members abroad totaled US$1.9385 billion during the first semester of 2008, surpassed by US$361.7 million in exports during the same period.
Economic growth is slowing down in Central America, but economic activity is still positive in spite of the slowdown in the United States, says the Central American Monetary Board in its June report.
The numbers from the board's Monthly Economic Activity Index for the firs three months of this year show a process of deceleration in both short- and long-term trends and a downturn in the business cycle.
Families in El Salvador received about 1.94 billion dollars through remittences from family members living abroad during the first six months of this year, according to the nation's Central Reserve Bank.
This is about 120 million dollars more than the amount sent home in 2007.
Just in the month of June remittences totaled 334.4 million dollars, a 7.9 percent increase over June of last year.
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