MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Mexico, Morocco Report Increases in Remittances Despite Dire Predictions Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

Residents of Mexico and Morocco received more in remittances from family members living abroad during most of 2020 versus 2019. This despite predictions from sources including the World Bank that the COVID-19 pandemic would cause global remittances to decrease 20 percent “due to a fall in the wages and employment of migrant workers, who tend to be more vulnerable to a loss of employment and wages during an economic crisis in a host country.” According to the Foreign Exchange Office of Morocco, remittances from the 5 million Moroccans living in other countries totaled MAD 62 billion (USD 7.1 billion) from January 2020 through late November 2020. This marks a 3.9-percent increase over the same period of the previous year.

Statistics from Banxico, Mexico’s central bank, indicate that total remittances from January to November increased from approximately USD 33 billion in 2019 to 37 billion in 2020. Between the two time spans, the size of the average remittance transaction increased from USD 326 to USD 340. One possible contributor to the increased total is that tightened restrictions on crossing the US-Mexico border could be causing more people to use electronic transfers in lieu of carrying cash by hand, thus increasing the amount of remittances known to government authorities.

By Harriet Ritchie, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Foreign Exchange Office of Morocco press release
https://www.oc.gov.ma/en/actualites/indicateurs-des-echanges-exterieurs-a-fin-novembre-2020

Banxico Economic Information System
https://www.banxico.org.mx/SieInternet/

Morningstar press release
https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/202101085370/mexicans-in-us-sent-record-remittances-despite-covid-19-pandemic

World Bank press release
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/04/22/world-bank-predicts-sharpest-decline-of-remittances-in-recent-history

Foreign Exchange Office of Morocco homepage
https://www.oc.gov.ma/

Banxico homepage
https://www.banxico.org.mx/

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