Personal remittances are money sent, particularly from overseas. On average these total slightly less than 1% of the world GDP, but can be much higher for particular countries, e.g.

• El Salvador – 20.4%
• Guatamala – 11.2%
• Honduras – 18.8%

The total for three Northern Triangle Countries have risen to ~$10 billion per year. Much of this is Guatemala

Also of particular interest is this total is ~20x larger than the amount of aid Trump has threatened to cancel. There is some confusion of exactly what is being cancelled

However, the USAID pages seem to provide pages to explore many of the aid programs. Here again is Guatemala:

The single largest project is a counternarcotics project and $30m and the largest category is in group of “governance”.

So the amount of aid is both large (in sense of $500m) but also small (compared to $10b in remittances). You want these projects to be well-run and successful. However, the extent to which they are cancelled or not well run, influences both the economy and conditions in Northern Triangle Countries.

If they are not well run, then I expect more people to find reasons to leave, and the net result will be more emigrants and hence also more remittances back to the home economy. I think we’re being penny wise and pound foolish here.