Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – Despite the economic effects of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, remittances to Mexico are on track to set a new record this year, with an estimated 39.4 billion USD expected to be sent home by Mexicans working abroad – mainly in the United States – through cash-transfer systems.
In the first quarter of 2020 the Bank of Mexico reported the sending of remittances – most of it from the U.S. – maintained an upward trend at an annual rate, in real terms, of 23.8%, which represented revenues of $19 billion. That’s 10.6% more than in the same period of 2019, with $17.2 billion.
Even as the unemployment rate in the United States soared to 14.7% in April, and the World Bank predicted global remittances would tank by about 20 percent, Latinos working in the United States baffled economists by sending more money home to Mexico and Central America than ever before.
Mexican families received $3.38 billion in remittances in May, versus $2.86 billion the prior month and $3.28 billion in May 2019, according to the Bank of Mexico.
The total for the month of June was $3.5 billion, an increase of 11.1% over June 2019, and $3.53 billion in July, a 7% increase over the same month in 2019, Mexico’s central bank data showed.
The average remittance in the period from January to July was $337 USD, 4.3% higher than the same period of 2019, which indicates that cash transfers to Mexico will stay strong – especially since the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Mexican peso remains favorable for remittance senders.
Mexicans aren’t alone in benefiting from U.S.-sent remittances. BBVA Research maintains that in Latin America and the Caribbean in June, the Dominican Republic saw an increase of 25.7% more shipments; Guatemala, 9.2%, and El Salvador, 9.8%.
Sources: BBVA Research • Herald Mail Media