Mexico Remittances Were $1.87 Billion in July, Central Bank Says

Mexican remittances were $1.87 billion in July compared with $1.91 billion in the same month last year, the central bank said today on its website.

The median estimate of eight economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for remittances to reach $2 billion in June.

Remittances are Mexico’s biggest source of foreign currency after auto exports and oil production. The money sent home by Mexican nationals living in the U.S. has historically accounted for more than 95 percent of remittances, according to the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank.

U.S. economic expansion cooled in the second quarter, and consumers and companies may continue to curb spending in the second half of the year as rising fuel costs, unemployment and the prospect of tax changes and government budget cuts hurt confidence.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net