One of Mexico's biggest banks said Tuesday that it expects remittances from migrants to fall for a second straight year as Mexicans working abroad are less able to send money home amid the global economic crisis. Banamex, a unit of Citigroup Incorporated, estimated remittances will drop by 2.5 percent this year. It also estimated 2008 remittances dropped 2.0 percent to $23.5 billion, the first annual decline since the bank starting tracking the money 13 years ago. Mexico's central bank will release those figures Jan. 28. Banamex said the fall in remittances is primarily due to the loss of jobs in the construction industry, a popular sector for Mexican immigrants, and the fall in the number of Mexicans attempting to illegally cross in the United States. Remittances are Mexico's second largest source of foreign income after oil.
