Remittances to Mexico increased more than 9% annually in August to reach their second highest monthly level on record, according to data from the Bank of Mexico.
A total of US $6.09 billion in remittances flowed into the country in August, a 9.3% increase compared to the same month of 2023.
The increase compared to July — when remittances declined 1% in annual terms — was 8.4%.
Since records were first kept in 1995, the only month in which Mexico received a higher amount in remittances was June of this year, when inflows totaled $6.21 billion.
Alberto Ramos, head of Latin America economics at Goldman Sachs, said that the depreciation of the Mexican peso against the US dollar in August incentivized the transfer of money to Mexico. The vast majority of remittances to Mexico come from the United States, where millions of Mexicans live and work.
The peso depreciated to close to 20 to the US dollar in late August after starting the month at around 18.6 to the greenback.
The more than $6 billion in remittances in August arrived in Mexico in almost 15 million individual transfers, each of which was worth $407 on average.
Mexico on track to receive record remittances in 2024
On Wednesday, the Bank of Mexico also published remittances data for the first eight months of the year.
In that period, remittances to Mexico totaled a record high of $43.03 billion, a 3.7% increase compared to the first eight months of 2023. Mexico received a record high of $63.31 billion in remittances last year.
Millions of Mexican families depend on remittances to help cover their essential living expenses.
Both former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and current President Claudia Sheinbaum have heaped praise on Mexicans who work abroad and send money back to Mexico, describing them as “heroes.”
Mexico is the world’s second largest recipient of remittances after India.
Remittances leave Mexico as well
The Bank of Mexico reported that remittances sent abroad from Mexico totaled $104 million in August and $900 million in the first eight months of the year.
The total for August was up 12.3% compared to the same month last year, while outgoing remittances increased 29.2% annually between January and August.
Based on the Bank of Mexico data for the first eight months of 2024, around $6.75 in remittances came into Mexico for every $1 that went out.
With reports from El Financiero and El Economista
I wonder whether the wire transfers, ATM withdrawals, social security remittances from home countries, etc. by expats, tourists and visitors is part of the remittances reported?