La Jornada: Remittances grew 3% in July and linked six months to the rise: BdeM

Income from remittances from abroad totaled 5,571 million dollars in July, an annual increase of 3 percent, marking six months of growth, according to the Bank of Mexico (BdeM).

This result is explained by a 3 percent increase in the amount of remittances: in the seventh month of the year, 13.1 million transactions were registered, with an average sending of 426 dollars.

With seasonally adjusted figures, income grew 0.5 percent monthly in July, while expenses fell 0.3 percent. The seasonally adjusted surplus was 5,168 million dollars, compared to 5,140 million dollars in June.

In the accumulated period from January to July 2026, remittance income amounted to 36,349 million dollars, above the 35,250 million dollars in the same period of 2025, an annual expansion of 3.1 percent.

According to the Bank of Mexico, in that period 99.1 percent of remittances were made through electronic transfers, with 36 thousand 37 million dollars. Cash and shipments in kind represented 0.7 percent, with 244 million dollars, and money orders or money orders 0.2 percent, with 69 million dollars.

From August 2025 to July 2026, the accumulated flow was 63,571 million dollars, against 63,409 million dollars for the period July 2025-June 2026.

In an analysis, BBVA confirmed that remittances accumulated six consecutive months of growth. From February to July, the average growth has been 3.7 percent compared to the monthly amounts of the same period in 2025.

However, in real terms, remittances fell 6.5 percent in the seventh month of the year. “The contraction is explained in part by the inflationary effect, but mainly by the depreciation of the US dollar, which has led to fewer pesos being charged for each dollar sent,” said BBVA.

He noted that, from its highest point, observed in July 2022, remittances in real terms to Mexico have fallen 24.8 percent until July of this year. “This implies a gradual reduction of these incomes in real terms over the last four years.”

Mexican Securities (Valmex) agreed that the purchasing capacity of remittances deteriorated in July, when the fourteenth consecutive annual contraction occurred.

The brokerage house noted that the exchange effects have begun to moderate, although the combination of a still strong peso with inflationary pressures continues to limit the purchasing power of recipient households.

“Shipments from abroad continue to support the private foreign exchange surplus and the income and consumption of Mexican households in the receiving regions,” according to Gerónimo Ugarte Bedwell, chief economist at Valmex.

The firm anticipated that resources sent from abroad will remain at high levels, with moderate growth. Its impact on household well-being will depend on the evolution of inflation, the behavior of the exchange rate and the conditions of the labor market in the United States.