Remittances to Mexico nosedive

Last month we mentioned how an increasing number of Mexicans are sending money transfers to their compatriots north of the border in the U.S. As the Mexican economy has been struggling in a recession, a recent New York Times piece observed how remittances to Mexico have gradually dropped since 2008.

The latest numbers on money transfers from Mexico's central bank were expected to be bad but they were worse than anticipated:

The Bank of Mexico said Tuesday that remittances to Mexico fell 36% to $1.69 billion in October from $2.64 billion in the same month last year.

The October numbers were also lower than the $1.74 billion that Mexican workers sent home in September, the central bank said.

Remittances for the first 10 months of the year fell 16% from the year-earlier period, to $18.13 billion.

In addition, bank officials have blamed the declining remittances on “the U.S. economic downturn, particularly in the construction market”. Yet with remittances accounting for Mexico's second largest source of foreign income, a sharp decline in money transfers is a bad sign for the country’s economy.

Image- BBC News
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, MSNBC