Mexican immigrants who live in the United States have for many years been building houses back home in Mexico, despite the slim chance that they will ever be able to go back and live in them. The economy of Mexico is dependent on remittances coming from immigrants who live in America, with around $25 million having been sent back last year, Univision says.
The non-partisan organization, known as the Migration Policy Institute, says that the formally tracked payments accounted for as much as two percent of the GDP in Mexico. The contribution to the nation’s economy made by PEMEX was $23.4 billion. The Mexican state oil economy and the entire GDP of Afghanistan was just $19.2 billion in the same year.
Univision says that one of the biggest problems with depending on remittances is that the money is intended to help with the everyday financial requirements of families. There is still little investment in infrastructure in the type of small rural areas that the immigrants originate from. The United States is the number one ‘remittance-sending country’ in the world, according to global banking giant BBVA’s research division.
Mexico is the fourth biggest recipient of remittances on the planet, with the United States responsible for 24.3 percent of remittances in the world. Republican Presidential candidate nominee, Donald Trump, wants to use global money transfer companies such as Western Union to force Mexico to pay for a border wall between it and the US by tightening regulations.