The inflow of remittances to Mexico declined in annual terms for a fifth consecutive month in August, while income from the international monetary transfers was also down in the first eight months of the year.
The Bank of Mexico (Banxico) reported on Wednesday that incoming remittances totaled US $5.57 billion in August, a decline of 8.3% compared to the same month of 2024.
On a positive note, remittances increased 4.6% compared to July to reach their highest monthly total this year. The August total also exceeded expectations.
Banxico data also shows that Mexico received $40.46 billion in remittances in the first eight months of 2025, a 5.9% decrease compared to the same period of last year.
The annual decrease in incoming remittances was the first contraction for the same period in 12 years and the largest decline in 16 years. Income from remittances — money that helps millions of Mexican families make ends meet — is on track to decline in 2025 for the first time in more than a decade.
The vast majority of remittances to Mexico are sent by Mexicans who live and work in the United States, where the Trump administration’s deportation agenda has created fear among the large Mexican migrant community and caused some people to limit their movements outside their homes.
Analysts have partially attributed the decline in remittances to Mexico this year to fear of going out to work among U.S.-based Mexicans, of whom 4.3 million are “unauthorized” immigrants, according to the bank BBVA.
The United States will begin imposing a 1% tax on outgoing remittances funded with cash on Jan. 1, 2026.
Remittances data in detail
Banxico data also shows that:
- A total of 13.87 million individual remittances were sent to Mexico in August, a 7.2% decline compared to the same month of 2024.
- The average remittance to Mexico in August was $402, an annual decline of 1.2%.
- In the first eight months of 2024, 102.88 million individual remittances were sent to Mexico, an annual decline of 5.2%.
- The average remittance to Mexico between January and August was $393, an annual decline of 0.7%.
- Over 99% of remittances in the first eight months of the year were sent to Mexico electronically.
- Remittances sent out of Mexico in August totaled $91 million, a 12.1% annual decline.
- Outgoing remittances between January and August totaled $778 million, a 13.5% annual decline.
Other need-to-know economic data
- The USD:MXN exchange rate was 18.36 at 12:15 p.m. Mexico City time on Wednesday, representing a slight depreciation for the peso compared to the closing rate on Tuesday.
- The Mexican economy contracted 1.2% annually in July and 0.9% compared to June.
- The Bank of Mexico’s benchmark interest rate is set at 7.5% after a 25-basis-point cut last week.
- Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate was 3.74% in the first half of September.
- Mexico’s exports were worth $425.15 billion in the first eight months of the year, a 4.7% annual increase.
- Mexico’s unemployment rate was 2.9% in August, up from 2.8% in July.
With reports from El Economista, Reforma and La Jornada
