These workers are a lifeline for Mexico’s economy.
The total amount Mexico received in “remittances” — transfers of money by workers of Mexican descent mostly in the US but also other countries to individuals in Mexico — surged by 10.5% in 2018 to $33.4 billion, the highest figure registered since records began, back in 1995, and beating the prior records set in 2016 and 2017, according to the Bank of Mexico.
Note the six-year downtrend that kicked off in 2007 with the Financial Crisis, the US housing bust, and the US housing construction downturn:
The cash remittances are a lifeline for Mexico’s economy, accounting for 2.7% of Mexico’s GDP, up from 1.9% in 2009. Most of them get spent very quickly in the Mexican economy. In some Mexican states, they can represent as much as 10% of total revenues. In 2018, they provided more funds than the $29.3 billion in export revenues that state-owned oil company, Pemex, obtained from its exports of crude oil and other hydrocarbon products, and they provided more funds than foreign direct investment in Mexico ($30.7 billion)…
