MANILA – Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos expanded in the first month of 2019, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.
Personal remittances – the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind – grew by 3.4 percent in January to $2.75 billion from $2.66 billion year-on-year, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said in a statement.
The growth in personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more rose to $2.12 billion, up 2.3 percent from $2.07 billion.
Personal remittances from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year rose by 12.6 percent to $580 million from $520 million.
Cash remittances or money transfers that coursed through banks stood at $2.48 billion, up 4.4 percent 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 ($530 million) workers, which rose by 2.3 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively,” Diokno said.
By country source, the United States registered the highest share of overall remittances at 35.5 percent.
This 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, according to Diokno. (GMA News)
