Mexico’s remittances surged 27% in 2021 to $51.6 billion

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s central bank says the money migrants send home to their relatives grew 27.1% in 2021, totaling $51.6 billion. That is a record for migrant remittances to Mexico and would surpass almost all other sources of its foreign income. The bank said Tuesday that the phenomenon doesn’t appear to be tailing off. Remittances in December grew to $4.76 billion, 30.4% more than in the same month of 2020. Remittances as a percentage of Mexico’s GDP have grown over the past decade from 2% of GDP in 2010 to 3.8% in 2020. The percentage of Mexican households receiving remittances has risen from 3.6% to 5.1%.