Personal remittances reach $28.2 billion for January-November period

January 15, 2018

Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) reached $2.5 billion in November 2017, 3.2 percent higher than the level posted in the same month in 2016.

This brought the cumulative remittances from January to November to $28.2 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 5.1 percent, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr. said in a statement Monday.

The growth in personal remittances for January to November 2017 was supported by the sustained expansion of remittances from land-based OFs with work contracts of one year or more (3.7 percent) as well as those from sea-based and land-based OFs with work contracts of less than one year (5.1 percent).

Likewise, cash remittances coursed through banks rose by 2 percent year-on-year to $2.3 billion in November .

The top countries that contributed to the growth in cash remittances in November were the United States (1.1 percentage point contribution) and Germany (0.9 percentage point).

On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances at end-November 2017 totaled $25.3 billion. This represents a 4 percent increase from the 2016 level.

Cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers recorded increments of 3.7 percent and 5.1 percent for January to November, respectively.

The bulk of cash remittances for January to November came from the United States, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany, and Hong Kong.

Combined remittances from these countries accounted for 80.2 percent of total cash remittances. DMS