Mexico now receives more remittances than China
Migrants are sending record sums home—and shaping Latin America for the better
When covid-19 began to spread in early 2020, bosses in the United States booted millions of foreign-born workers from their jobs. That risked catastrophe for households across Latin America and the Caribbean, many of which cover essential expenses with money sent from relatives abroad. What happened next was a surprise. After crashing briefly, the amount remitted to these countries soared. Last year remittances reached a whopping $142bn, 48% more than in 2019.
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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Paying back”
From the April 1st 2023 edition
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