Remittances up 2.8% to $3.10B in August

OVERSEAS Filipino worker (OFW) remittances rose by 2.8 percent to $3.10 billion in August from $3.02 billion a year earlier, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Monday.

Money sent home via banks alone totaled $2.80 billion, 2.7 percent higher compared to the $2.72 billion recorded in August last year.

The rise in personal remittances was attributed to land-based OFWs with contracts of a year or more, and sea- and land-based workers with contracts of less than one year.

Year to date, overall remittances totaled $24.01 billion, 2.9 percent higher than the year-earlier $23.34 billion.

Cash remittances also grew by 2.8 percent to $21.58 billion from $20.98 billion during the eight-month period.

August's 2.8-percent growth in personal remittances improved from July's 2.5 percent, but was much lower than the year-earlier 4.4 percent.

The year-to-date expansion of 2.9 percent was also slightly lower than the 3.0 percent posted as of end-August last year.

The cash remittance growth of 2.7 percent, meanwhile, improved from July's 2.6 percent, but was significantly lower than the 4.3 percent last year.

Year-to-date growth recorded a downtick from 2.9 percent a month earlier and 3.0 percent in January-August 2022.

The cumulative growth in cash remittances for the year was traced to flows from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore.

The US accounted for the biggest share (41.6 percent) of overall remittances for the eight-month period, followed by Singapore (6.9 percent), Saudi Arabia (5.9 percent) and Japan (4.9 percent).

Other countries that contributed to overall remittances were the United Kingdom (4.9 percent), the United Arab Emirates (4.1 percent), Canada (3.5 percent), Qatar (2.8 percent), Taiwan (2.7 percent) and Korea (2.6 percent).

Commenting on the results, ING Manila Bank senior economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said the increase in remittances was largely in line with expectations.

«Remittances continue to be a consistent source of foreign exchange and once converted, a viable driver of domestic purchasing power,» he added.

«We expect remittance growth to average 3.0 percent for the rest of the year.»