Personal remittances up 5.2 percent in October, 10-month tally $25.7b

December 15, 2017

Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) grew  5.2 percent to reach a cumulative $25.7 billion total from January to October, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.

For October alone, personal remittances grew by 9.7 percent to $2.6 billion compared to $2.3 billion a year ago, BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr. said.

Personal remittances from land-based OFs with work contracts of one year or more including other   household-to-household transfers increased 4.2 percent (at $19.8 billion) and those from sea-based and land-based OFs with work contracts of less than one year went up by 4.1 percent (at $5.3 billion) for January to October.

OFs cash remittances coursed through banks grew by 8.4 percent  year-on-year to $2.3 billion in October.

The top countries that contributed to the increase in total cash remittances during October were the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and United States .

From January to October, cash remittances reached   $23.1 billion, or a 4.2 percent increase compared to  $22.1 billion during the same period in 2016. The increase was boosted by the increase in remittances from land-based workers and sea-based workers, which both grew by 4.2 percent compared to the level posted a year ago.

Cash remittances from the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany, and Hong Kong comprised about 80.2 percent of total cash remittances from January to October. DMS