Mexico remittances purchasing power third quarter 2026, Digi Mart USA News: Remittances to Mexico, which for many households are their main source of income, accumulated five consecutive periods of lost purchasing power at the close of the third quarter, according to EL CEO. Recipients receive less money when they exchange dollars for pesos, affected by the inflation rate and the appreciation of the exchange rate.
From July to September 2026, the Mexican economy captured total remittance flows of $16,385 million, a slight increase of 0.26% year over year compared with the third quarter of 2025, based on original figures from the Bank of Mexico (Banxico). Remittances sent to the national economy, mainly from the United States, show a stagnation trend in the third quarter after growing 3.99% annually in the prior period.
When the dollar flows were converted to pesos using an average FIX exchange rate and adjusted for inflation during the period, Mexico received 282,888 million pesos. This recorded a loss of purchasing power of 10.05% annually in the third quarter.
Remittances have now recorded a decline in value for more than a year: they lost 6.44% in the third quarter of 2025, 13.24% in the fourth quarter, 15.55% in the first three months of 2026, and 10.83% from April to June of this year.
Considering September alone, remittance income reached $5,362 million, a 1.55% increase from the same month of 2025. Remittances thus regained their growth path after a 3.56% decline recorded in August.
In September 2026, there were 12.6 million remittance transactions, a decrease of 6.3%. However, this drop was offset by an increase in the average remittance, which reached $426, according to Juan Jose Li, Senior Economist at BBVA Research.
Li, an expert on migration and remittances, added that during the first nine months of 2026, remittance flows totaled $47,164 million, an annual increase of 2.1% compared with the same period of the prior year. However, measured by purchasing power after conversion into pesos, remittances lost 8.39% annually in value, accumulating 16 consecutive months of negative trends, a period marked by dollar weakness against the Mexican peso and other emerging currencies.
Banco Base’s economic analysis unit said the weakness in the labor market for Mexican migrants in the United States is one of the main threats to dollar inflows. Through September, employment creation for people of national origin in the United States totaled 378,000 positions, the lowest figure since 2021, according to the household survey of the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Banco Base also said remittances remain affected by fear among undocumented residents of being deported from the United States, which leads them to avoid going out to work or carrying out other activities. Because the projected exchange rate for the fourth quarter was revised upward to an average of 18.28 pesos per dollar, the firm projects that in November the purchasing power of remittances will fall 0.59% annually, and in December rise 7.86%.
