By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
MATAMOROS, Mexico | Sending money to family in Mexico? Good for you, but that dollar is not worth as much to them as it was, say, a year ago. The exchange rate today is 17.35 pesos to one dollar, and it has dropped below 17 pesos several times this summer.
The news is bad for Mexicans.
Millions of dollars make it south of the border on payday every week, as Mexicans working in the U.S. forward those remittances to Mom and the wife and kids without fail. It is part of the country's economy, amounting to billions on an annual basis.
This excerpt from the Los Angeles Times about a time (two-plus years ago) when things were better: [ But that was before the dawn of the "super-peso," as the Mexican currency has been dubbed since steadily gaining 18% on the dollar during the last 12 months.
The peso’s emergence as one of the world’s mightiest currencies has prompted boasts from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. But there has been no celebration among the millions of Mexicans who rely on steady remittances. ]
A weaker dollar means fewer pesos to buy livestock, food, gasoline, home construction supplies, appliances and other necessities, or pay for celebratory quinceañeras, marriages and funerals.
It is one of those good & bad stories, for while Mexico can boast that its currency is gaining, its citizens are the ones also paying a price.
Last Spring, the exchange rate was at 20.11 pesos for every dollar. In 2021, it was 20.29 pesos for every one dollar. In 2020, it was 21.48.
The $100 you sent in 2020 got your relatives 2,148 pesos.
With today's exchange rate, those same $100 gets them only 1,735 pesos.
It may not seem like much, but it is a meaningful devaluation...
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And prices for basics are going up. I went to Matamoros yesterday to buy some shoes and the clerk told me I should have been there a few months back. Same for my haircut. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there are those of us in Brownsville who go buy our medicines over in Mexico. Retired, low-income people like me.
ReplyDeletePlus, old habits - like driving to Matamoros to buy sacks of beans or tortillas or a glittery Charro outfit for Charro Days - are hard to break...
DeleteA lot of people in Brownsville say they shop at HEB, but they don't. They go to Mexico for everything, even chickens they can smuggle. The elderly try to geta way with it.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right, brother. I go for the avocados and the lady at the stand where I buy them takes the pit out for me, so I can bring them across.
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