Personal remittances reach $16.3 billion in first half of 2019 

August 15, 2019

Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos  totalled $16.3 billion in the first half, a 2.9 percent growth from $15.8 billion in the same period last year.

This was announced by BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno Thursday. 

Personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of  one year or more grew by 1.8 percent to $12.4 billion from $12.2 billion in the same period last year.

Personal remittances from sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts increased by 8.8 percent to $3.5 billion from $3.2 billion in the first half of 2018.

However, on a monthly basis, the amount of personal remittances in June decreased slightly by 2.7 percent to $2.5 billion from $2.6 billion in the same month a year ago. 

For January to June, cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks recorded a 3.2 percent growth to reach $14.6 billion from  $14.2 billion in the same period last year.

Cash remittances sent by land-based workers rose by 1.8 percent year-on-year to $11.4 billion, and transfers from sea-based workers grew by 8.7 percent year-on-year to $3.2 billion.

For June alone, cash remittances posted a 2.9 percent decrease to $2.3 billion in 2019 from $2.4 billion in the same period a year  ago.

This was attributed to the 5.4 percent year-on-year  drop in cash remittances from land-based workers, which was mitigated by the 6.3 percent increase  year-on-year in transfers from sea-based workers.

The countries that contributed to the decline In June were Saudi Arabia and Qatar. 

By country source, the US registered the highest share of overall  remittances from January to June at 36.4 percent.

It was followed by Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, the UK, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany and Qatar. The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78 percent of total cash remittances from January to June. DMS