Personal remittances reach $23.7 billion from January to September

November 15, 2018

Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos  from January to September grew by 2.4 percent year-on-year to reach $23.7 billion, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Officer-in-Charge Maria Almasara Cyd N. Tuaño-Amador announced Thursday.

The growth in personal remittances was supported by remittance inflows from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, which grew by 2.2 percent year-on-year.

Similarly, the growth in personal remittances was complemented by remittances from sea- and land-based workers with contracts of less than one year, which rose by 3.5 percent year-on-year. In September 2018, personal remittances rose to US$2.5 billion, two percent higher than the September 2017 level. 

Likewise, cash remittances from OFs coursed through banks increased by 2.3 percent year-on-year to $2.2 billion in September. 

This brought cash remittances for the period of January-September to $21.3 billion, 2.5 percent higher than the $20.8 billion recorded in the comparable period last year.

Over the nine-month period, cash remittances from both land-based ($16.8 billion) and sea-based ($4.5 billion) workers grew by 2.2 percent and 3.5 percent year-on-year, respectively. 

By country source, more than 79 percent of the total cash remittances for the first nine months of 2018 came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Canada, Germany, and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the countries that contributed to the increase in remittances in September 2018 are Canada, the United States and Taiwan. DMS