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October remittances highest ever recorded in a single month

Cat Rainsford
By Cat Rainsford
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Hands push dollars under a bank sill
The remittance tax would be a blow to Mexicans in the U.S. who send millions of remittance payments home every year. (Shutterstock)

Remittances to Mexico broke records in October with a total of US $5.81 billion received from abroad – an 8.4% increase over October 2022, and the highest figure ever recorded in a single month.

This brought Mexico’s total remittance receipts for the first ten months of the year up to US $52.89 billion, according to data from the Bank of Mexico (Banxico). This represents 9.4% growth from the same period of 2022.

A weaker dollar, trading at around 17.20 pesos on Dec. 1, has negatively impacted the buying power of Mexicans who receive remittances, or approximately 12% of the adult population. (Graciela López Herrera/Cuartoscuro)

Meanwhile, the remittances sent abroad by residents in Mexico increased 10.1% year-on-year, to reach US $108 million in October. This gave Mexico an overall remittance balance of US $5.7 billion for the month, compared to US $5.26 billion in October 2022.

The average single remittance payment over the month was $397, compared to $403 in September. Around 99% of payments were made by electronic transfer.

Remittances to Mexico have been on a record-breaking trend for several years now. October marks the 42nd consecutive month of year-on-year increases starting in June 2020.

The vast majority of remittances to Mexico come from Mexican immigrants working in the United States. The recent high receipts partly reflect the strength of the U.S. labor market, but the strength of the peso, combined with a high inflation rate in Mexico, has been eroding remittances’ real purchasing power this year.

This means that, despite the historic figures, many low-income Mexican families who rely on remittances to survive are still struggling to make ends meet.

Furthermore, with seasonally adjusted figures that account for predictable seasonal variations, October’s record-breaking remittance receipts actually represent a 1.9% decrease from September’s figure.

Over recent months, several economic analysts have pointed out that the rate of remittance growth is slowing, and can be expected to stagnate further as the U.S. economy weakens and immigration policies tighten ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Mexico News Daily

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