economic 'bad news' that's good news to me ...
(snip)"By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
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MEXICO CITY – Remittances to Mexico were down nearly 6 percent in January, the biggest drop in 13 years, which experts attributed to a downturn in the U.S. economy and anti-immigrant policies.
In its report this week, Mexico's central bank, known as the Bank of Mexico, said remittances fell to $1.65 billion in January from $1.76 billion a year earlier, signaling the biggest decline since the bank began recording remittances in 1995. Remittances are the second-biggest source of foreign currency inflows behind oil exports for Mexico, though they comprise just about 3 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
"Fundamentally there are two main reasons for the decline in the last few months," said Raymundo Tenorio Aguilar, economic expert at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. "One, the migration policies in the United States, and two, a very important one, the few options in Mexico offered to those who receive remittances to turn that money into savings."
Other Mexican officials said the decline is a reflection of the worsening U.S. economy, particularly in the area of construction. The U.S. construction industry accounts for about 20 percent of jobs for Mexicans living in the country, according to the central bank.
The Mexican government has said it expects economic growth to slow to 2.8 percent this year from 3.3 percent in 2007 because of slowing U.S. demand for Mexican exports. Earlier in the week, the Calderon administration announced a $5.6 billion stimulus package to help the economy.
Mr. Tenorio remains "a bit of an optimist because I do believe remittances will once again grow."
About 12 million people are believed to be in the U.S. illegally – and about 57 percent of those are from Mexico. "(snip)
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