El Salvador’s economy depends on remittances. The money that the two to three million people of Salvadoran descent living in the United States send home to their families and loved ones accounts for one-quarter of El Salvador’s GDP. The average Salvadoran makes about $400 a month, and 70 percent of the population lacks access to traditional banking, so most business is conducted in cash. (El Salvador “dollarized” in 2001, abandoning its local currency, the Colon, in favor of greenbacks.) Most Salvadorans rely on services such as Western Union or MoneyGram to accept remittances from relatives
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