MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Remittances from Mexicans abroad climbed 5.3% in first quarter over a year ago

Millions of Mexicans work in the US

Remittances from Mexicans living abroad climbed 5.3% in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2011, Mexico’s central bank said on Wednesday.

Expats sent a total of 5.37 billion dollars home to Mexico in the first three months of the year, up from 5.1 billion a year earlier, according to figures compiled by Banco de Mexico.

The number of transactions also rose from the first quarter of 2011, climbing 7.3% to 16.8 million.

Remittances rose 16.4% last month from the level of March 2011, to 2.08 billion.

The median transfer in the first quarter was 318.41, down 1.94% compared with January-March last year.

Michoacan led Mexico’s 32 states in remittances in the first quarter with receipts of 538.4 million, followed by Guanajuato, 498.7 million and Jalisco, 462 million.

Remittances are Mexico’s second-largest source of foreign exchange and help cover the living expenses of millions of households.

Most of the remittances are sent from the United States, where an estimated 12 million Mexicans live, about half of them undocumented migrants.

The increase in remittances is also a strong signal that the US economy is picking up which is also good news for Mexico and its foreign trade, 90% of which is absorbed bilaterally by the world’s leading economy.