Mexico received 8,754 million dollars from its citizens residing abroad during the first two months of the yearan annual increase of 11.8% compared to the 7,829 million dollars in the same period of the previous year, the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) reported on Monday.
The average individual remittance between January and February was 375 dollarshigher than the 372 dollars of the same period of 2022.
The number of operations in this same period went from 21.05 million to 23.36 million99% of them electronic transfers.
Remittances fall in relation to January
Despite the year-on-year increase, remittances in February for 4,348 fell 1.3% per month compared to the amount of 4,406 million dollars received in January.
The increase in remittances in 2023 continues with the upward trend marked since March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 34 months with consecutive year-on-year increases, which is why they represent the main source of external income for the country .
It might interest you: 7.6% of remittances sent to Mexico would come from organized crime
In 2022, Mexico received a record of 58,497 million dollars, which implied an increase of 13.4% compared to 2021 and the ninth consecutive annual increase.
In contrast, Banxico reported that remittances worth 98 million dollars were sent abroad from Mexico, representing an annual increase of 20.8%.
‘Mexican heroes’ send remittances
The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has thanked on several occasions the 38 million Mexicans in the United States, from whom the majority of contributions come, and whom he describes as “heroes”. when estimating that their remittances benefit close to 10 million poor families.
According to the president, at the end of last year, Mexico became the second country in the world, only behind India, in the volume of remittance receipts.
Remittances represent about 4% of Mexico’s gross domestic product (GDP).according to a calculation by the BBVA bank.
While a report by the Mexican association Signos Vitales indicates that some 4.4 billion dollars, 7.6% of remittances sent to Mexico in 2022, could come from organized crime, in an operation that would serve to launder money obtained from drug trafficking.
The last:
EFE International news agency based in Madrid and present in more than 110 countries.