Mexico Sees Record 15.7 Pct Drop in Remittances

By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY January 27, 2010 (AP)
The Associated Press

Money sent home by Mexicans abroad plunged a record 15.7 percent in 2009 as migrants worldwide struggled to find work during the global economic slowdown, the central bank reported Wednesday.

Remittances — Mexico's No. 2 source of foreign income after oil exports — totaled $21.2 billion in 2009, compared with $25.1 billion in 2008, the bank said.

Since the bank began tracking remittances in 1996, they have recorded just one other annual decline — a 3.6 percent slide in 2008, as the world financial crisis exploded.

Central bank president Agustin Carstens attributed the drop to a weak economy in the United States and the increased difficulty Mexicans are having securing employment there. More than 11.8 million Mexicans live in the United States.

Carstens said a 1.3 percent uptick in remittances in December 2009, compared to the previous month, gives some hope for a recovery.

"It is just one figure, but it could indicate the beginning of a relative stabilization in the drop in remittances, and it would be congruent with the fact that economic activity in the United States is about to go from negative to positive," Carstens said.

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