MEXICO CITY – Remittances to Mexico totaled $17.88 billion in the first 10 months of this year, a decline of 1.34 percent compared with the same period of 2009, the central bank said Wednesday.

But the $1.72 billion sent home in October by emigrants – the vast majority of them working in the United States – was 2.09 percent more than the sum for October 2009, the Banco de Mexico noted.

The median amount of the 56.3 million remittances received between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31 was $317.16.

Mexican remittances plunged 15.7 percent in 2009, to $21.18 billion, due to the severe recession in the United States.

Money transfers from expats now represent Mexico’s No. 2 source of revenue after proceeds from oil exports and many Mexican households depend on remittances to meet normal living expenses. EFE