Mexican remittances at annual rate of $20 billion

From the AP: The Mexicans living abroad sent $11 billion home in the first half of 2006, an increase of 23 percent over the same period last year, the government news agency Notimex reported Friday. Remittances have become an increasingly important source of income for the country in recent years, surpassing tourism. They represent Mexico’s second-largest source of foreign income after oil. They topped $20 billion for the first time in 2005, a 17 percent increase from the previous year.
This is double the rate of $10 billion used in analyzing the commerce of remittances by companies such as Wal-Mart.