Mexicans living in the United States sent home 12 percent less money in August than they did a year ago, the largest drop on record since the Bank of Mexico began tracking remittances 12 years ago, the Mexican central bank reported Wednesday. Remittances started dropping early this year, hurting many small towns and neighborhoods that depend on the money sent by relatives in the United States. The Bank of Mexico said remittances likely will continue to fall in the coming months because of the “difficult problems the U.S. economy faces.” The central bank, based in Mexico City, said remittances in August fell 12 percent to $1.9 billion, compared to $2.2 billion in August 2007. Migrant workers living in the United Stats have sent home $15.5 billion in the first eight months of this year, 4 percent below the amount sent in the same period a year earlier. A slowing U.S. economy and intensified immigration enforcement by the U.S. government, including record-high deportations and increased border security, were the main factors in the decline in remittances. Next to oil exports, remittances are Mexico's second-biggest source of foreign income. Nearly all of them come from the United States, home to 98 percent of Mexicans living abroad. At least 11 million Mexicans live in the United States. So far, Mexico's economy has not been affected much by the global economic crisis, helped by a national housing boom and government-funded infrastructure programs. But Treasury Secretary Agustin Carstens said this week that Mexico will still be hit by the global crisis as tourism declines and continued volatility deflates oil and other commodity prices. He has lowered his annual growth forecast for Mexico to 2.5 percent.
