According to the report issued by the Bank of Mexico, the remittances that the country’s emigrants sent home to their families from a recession-bound United States came down by 14 percent year-on-year in the month of November to $1.5 billion.

Further, the Bank release said that remittances for the first time in 11 months of 2009 stood at $19.6 billion, a fall of 16% as compared to the same time in 2008.

Mexico's close trade relations to United Stated have been damned by Felipe Calderón, president, and international financial institutions for an anticipated drop of almost 7% in its GDP in the last year, the worst performance in Latin America, and worse than what followed Mexico's 1994-95 financial collapse.

November's decline in remittances was the smallest in 8-months, possibly reflecting a moderate improvement in the US jobs market. The affect will have been relieved for Mexicans receiving money by the fall in the Mexican peso's value against the dollar.

The government has rejected disapproval it is not doing enough to encourage growth.

At the weekend, José Antonio Meade, a deputy finance minister, said, “Investment in programmes to regenerate jobs and boost public works amounted to 1.8 per cent of gross domestic product in 2009, a sum that is comparable with the stimuli implemented in other industrialized and emerging countries.”

For users, the uphill slog of January will be steep this year, with advances in the price of everything from cable TV to beer, plus petrol, electricity and food staples including tortillas and bread.