Virtually all of a record $16.6 billion dollars sent back to Mexico were from workers in the US. The amount is a 24% increase over last year, according to the Bank of Mexico, and is the second highest industry in Mexico, surpassing tourism but behind petroleum. Overall the Mexican GNP grew at 4% for 2004. Current estimates are that 1 in 5 Mexicans are receiving money from these "remittances".
The Los Angeles Times would rather have you believe that Mexico's economic growth is due to record consumer spending and have you ignore the fact that all the money spent came from these "remittances".
Mexico's economy expanded by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, the government reported Friday, as the nation was helped by robust consumer spending, high oil prices, a rebounding factory sector and record remittances received from abroad.
The strong showing — the fastest quarterly growth pace in four years — boosted Mexico's full-year 2004 gross domestic product growth to 4%, according to a report released by Mexico's Ministry of Finance and Public Credit. That's up from 1.3% growth in 2003, and is the best annual showing for the Mexican economy since the height of the technology boom in 2000, when Mexican GDP surged by 6.9%.
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"It's [remittances] a big component of consumption in Mexico," said Pedro Tuesta, a senior Latin America economist at 4Cast Inc. in Washington. "A lot of housing in Mexico gets built that way."
While I'd like to see Mexico's economy grow I'd rather see it grow from within rather than relying on money sent from our country, with a large portion coming from the huge illegal alien community in the US. Could the sudden surge in "remittances" be tied to the sudden surge in illegal aliens entering the US because of a potential Bush amnesty? Diggers Realm thinks so.
