translated from Spanish: After the March record, remittances fall 28.59% in April

Remittances sent by Mexicans abroad, mainly in the United States, fell 2.6% in April over the same month in 2019, having reached a record $4 billion in March, the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) reported on Monday.
Shipments totaled $2.861 million in April, down from $2.937 million in the same month last year.
The figure is also far from the $4 billion last March, a record since registration began in 1995, despite paralysis from the coronavirus pandemic.
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In April, remittances fell 28.59% compared to those received the previous month – March – to be $861.37 billion.
According to preliminary Banxico figures, in the cumulative, from January to April the country has received $12 billion,158.51 billion, compared to the same period last year, an increase of 12.69%, when they rated $10 billion,00 billion.
The fact comes at a time when unemployment hits the United States, where some 12 million people born in Mexico and 26 million second or third generation live.
Until last week, the number of workers in that country who applied for unemployment benefits due to the coronavirus crisis exceeded 40 million.
Remittance income competes with those generated by oil exports and the tourism industry as Mexico’s main foreign exchange sources. They also account for about 3% of Mexico’s GDP, where 42% of the population is poor.
In 2019, these shipments totaled $36,045 million, according to central bank data.
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Mexico’s economy, the second largest in Latin America, contracted 2.2% in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2019, reflecting the first effects of the new coronavirus pandemic.
Private analysts estimate that the Mexican economy will have a contraction of almost 8% in 2020, according to a monthly survey by the Bank of Mexico, released on Monday.
With information from AFP and Notimex.
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Original source in Spanish