EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The money citizens working abroad send home to relatives each month is one of the pillars of the Mexican economy. Remittances last year totaled $64.7 billion, or about 3.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

That cash flow slowed at the end of last year and is down 5.5 percent year to year through the end of July, new data released by Banco de Mexico (Banxico) shows.

Mexican families have received $34.89 billion from January 1 to July 31, compared with $36.92 during the same period last year, the data shows. Nine out of 10 remittances to Mexico come from workers in the United States.

The biggest drop comes from electronic transfers, accounting for an almost $2 billion deficit. Cash sent in the form of money orders increased – by 11 percent,

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