Remittances to Mexico surge during pandemic, surpassing $50 billion

The money that migrants sent back home to their relatives in Mexico in 2021 is expected to reach $50 billion, reaching a record number as remittances soared during the pandemic.

The $50 billion almost surpasses all other sources of Mexico’s foreign income, reported AP. Remittances as a percentage of Mexico’s GDP have doubled in the past decade, increasing from 2 percent in 2010 to 3.8 percent in 2020.

In 2020, the percentage of households receiving remittances was 5.1 percent, increasing from 3.6 percent a decade ago.

In November 2020 alone, remittances increased 37.8 percent compared to the same month a year earlier, according to the Mexican central bank.  

Mexico is one of the largest receivers of remittances in the world, behind India and China, according to a government report.

In many rural areas of Mexico, businesses and families depend on remittances. For example, Comachuen, an indigenous community of 10,000 inhabitants, survives only on the money sent home by migrants working abroad.

Throughout the pandemic, the amount of money sent from abroad soared. For the first 11 months of last year, remittances increased by 27 percent. Experts believe that this increase is due to the performance of the Mexican economy in the last few years. In 2020, GDP shrank 8.5 percent.

“When a Mexican family suffers illness or their household suffers damage, they receive more… Why? Because, basically, they ask for help, and that is what I think happened here last year,” said Agustín Escobar, a professor at Mexico’s Center for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology.