Secondary Income, Net

Secondary Income, Net (also referred to as unilateral current transfers, net) is the difference between current transfers received from abroad and those sent to the rest of the world, with no corresponding exchange of goods or services. These transfers include remittances, foreign aid, and pensions, and are recorded in the current account of the balance of payments, reflecting one-way flows of resources between residents and non-residents. Published in the Latin Macro Watch of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), this indicator gives economists, policymakers, and researchers a comparable measure of net current transfers across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Coverage

The series spans 25 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly, and quarterly frequency, covering the period 1991 to 2026. Values are available in millions of USD as well as percent of GDP, percent of total exports, and percent of total imports, with year-to-date (YTD), fiscal-year (Q4–Q3 aggregation), and seasonally adjusted variants. Transformations include 3-, 6-, and 12-month moving averages (MA3, MA6, MA12) and month-over-month, quarter-over-quarter, and year-over-year percentage changes (MoM %, QoQ %, YoY %).

Sources

The data are drawn from national authorities including Banco Central do Brasil, Banco de Mexico (Banxico), Bank of Jamaica, and INDEC - Argentina, ensuring regionally comparable measures of net secondary income.

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Format	CSV
Language	en
Country	Argentina Bahamas Trinidad & Tobago Belize Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia El Salvador Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Panama Uruguay Venezuela Barbados Paraguay Peru Suriname
Data notes	What does Secondary Income, Net measure? It measures the difference between current transfers received from abroad and those sent to the rest of the world, with no corresponding exchange of goods or services. These transfers include remittances, foreign aid, and pensions. How many countries and which frequencies and period are covered? The indicator covers 25 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, available at annual, monthly, and quarterly frequency, over the period 1991 to 2026. What units and transformations are available? Values are available in millions of USD and as percent of GDP, percent of total exports, and percent of total imports, with YTD, fiscal-year (Q4–Q3), and seasonally adjusted variants. Transformations include MA3, MA6, MA12 moving averages and MoM %, QoQ %, and YoY % changes. Where do the data come from? The data are drawn from national authorities such as Banco Central do Brasil, Banco de Mexico (Banxico), Bank of Jamaica, and INDEC - Argentina. What is this indicator typically used for? It is used to assess the contribution of net current transfers—such as remittances and aid—to the current account, external sustainability, and household income across Latin American and Caribbean economies. How do I cite this indicator? Cite it as: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Latin Macro Watch — "Secondary Income, Net." data.iadb.org/dataset/latin-macro-watch-dataset.