Salvador remittances hit record of $1.25B

El Salvador's Central Reserve Bank reported Friday that it has received a record $1.25 billion in the first four months of 2008. The previous record was set last year during the same time period -$1.17 billion.

Mexican remittances have fallen 2.9 percent this year due to the U.S. economic downturn and crackdown on immigration.

But El Salvador's central bank said many of the 2.5 million Salvadorans living in the U.S. haven't been hit as hard by job cuts and have permission to work legally granted after earthquakes in their homeland in 2001.