Personal remittances reach $2.7 billion in January 

March 15, 2019

Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos  grew by 3.4 percent year-on-year in January to reach $2.75 billion from $2.66 billion, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ( BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno announced Friday.

Personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more rose to $2.12 billion, 2.3 percent higher than $2.07 billion recorded in January 2018.

Meanwhile, remittance from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year rose by 12.6 percent to $0.58 billion from $0.52 billion. Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks summed up to $2.48 billion in January, a 4.4 percent growth from $2.38 billion last year.

This growth was in line with the increase in remittances from both land-based ($1.95 billion) and sea-based ($0.53 billion) workers, which rose by 2.3 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively.  

By country source, the United States registered the highest share of overall remittances at 35.5 percent.

It was followed by Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Canada, Qatar, Hong Kong, and Kuwait. The combined remittances from these countries accounted for almost 78 percent of total cash remittances. DMS