MEXICO CITY – Mexicans living and working abroad sent home $11.85 billion in the first six months of the year, an increase of 6.2 percent from the same period in 2011, the country’s central bank said Wednesday.

The figure for June was $2.09 billion, up 3.5 percent from a year ago, the Banco de Mexico said.

Transactions totaled 36.4 million in the first half of 2012, a gain of 6.4 percent over last year, and more than 98 percent took the form of wire transfers.

The average payment in the January-June period was $331, compared with $326.51 during the first six months of 2011, according to the Banco de Mexico report.

Remittances from expatriates are Mexico’s second-largest source of foreign exchange after oil exports and help cover living expenses for millions of households. Most of the money is sent from the United States, where an estimated 12 million Mexicans live, about half of them undocumented migrants. EFE