[File Photo]

Personal remittances to date already reached $189.7 million, an increase of 9.8 percent compared to last year.

This as the remittances soared to a record high of $1.25b in 2023, marking a significant 20.4 percent increase.

This has been highlighted by Westpac Senior Economist Shamal Chand in the Fiji Quarterly Economic Update.

Chand says this growth is attributed to rising migration and support from the Fijian diaspora overseas.

He says remittances first surpassed the $1 billion milestone in 2022, with a remarkable 23.6 percent growth, playing a crucial role in boosting domestic consumption and assisting low and middle-income households during the post-COVID-19 recovery phase.

Chand says they expect remittances to continue growing due to significant out-migration of the past couple of years.

He adds Fijians also continue to embrace the mobile digital wallet technology and amongst Fijians living abroad, it has become one of the preferred platforms for sending money back home.

Out of total remittance inflows in 2023, 38 percent was received through mobile digital wallets, a substantial increase from just 1.2 percent in 2016.

In contrast, Chand adds the share of remittances received through commercial banks, money transfer operators and foreign exchange dealers, has been declining in the past decade.

However, Chand this group still accounts for a significant portion of receipts in nominal values.