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Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Republic received US$10,756 million in remittances in 2024, an increase of 5.9% ($598.8 million) compared to 2023, according to the Central Bank. In December alone, 1,003.5 million dollars were collected, which represents a year-on-year increase of 6.2%. These funds, mainly from the Dominican diaspora, play a crucial role in boosting consumption, investment and financial support for vulnerable sectors.
The Central Bank attributed the growth to the strength of the US economy, which contributed 80.3% of December remittance flows ($710.5 million). With approximately 1.3 million Dominicans residing in the United States, stable unemployment rates of around 4% further boosted remittance flows. Spain, the second most important source, contributed 55.9 million dollars (6.3%), followed by Italy, Haiti, Switzerland, Canada and Panama.
In addition to remittances, the Central Bank highlighted the solid foreign exchange earnings from tourism (10.6 billion dollars), exports from free zones (8.5 billion dollars) and companies in the national sector (5.4 billion dollars). These combined inflows, which totaled approximately $43.6 billion, helped maintain exchange rate stability, with the Dominican peso depreciating only 5% in 2024.