Mexican President Sees Remittances up Nearly Seven Percent in June, July

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Reuters) Mexico continued to enjoy robust growth in remittances in June and July in spite of the economic slump sparked by the coronavirus crisis, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Saturday evening.

Drawing on the latest economic data, Lopez Obrador in a video address on YouTube estimated that remittances reached some $3.4 billion in June and $3.48 billion in July, up about 6.8% each from a year earlier.

Remittances stood at $3.38 billion in May, the second-highest for any month on record.

The vast bulk of Mexico’s remittances are sent by millions of Mexicans living in the United States, and the president said he expected 2020 to be a record-breaking year for them.

Remittances have been a major support for the Mexican economy, which contracted more than 17% in the April-June period compared to the previous quarter.

Lopez Obrador reiterated that Mexico was bouncing back from the downturn even though the country is still posting record numbers of new daily coronavirus infections.

The economy should continue to improve during the third quarter before finally breaching “the surface” in a healthy state in the final three months of the year, Lopez Obrador said.

After major layoffs in the April-June period, the president said the economy had only shed 3,430 formal jobs in July. On top of that, however, come millions of job losses in the informal economy.