REMITTANCES from overseas Filipinos climbed for the second consecutive month in August mainly on inflows from land-based workers, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported Tuesday.
Central bank data showed that personal remittances–the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels–increased by 4.2 percent to $2.875 billion in August from $2.760 billion in the same month last year.
It marked the second monthly increase in remittances since registering at $2.545 billion in June, and brought the year-to-date personal remittances up 3.6 percent to $21.995 billion.
“The steady growth in personal remittances during the first eight months of 2019 drew support from the remittance inflows from land-based overseas Filipino workers with work contracts of one year or more,” the BSP said in an accompanying statement.
Inflows from land-based workers with short-term contracts and sea-based workers also contributed to the growth with $4.7 billion from the $4.4 billion last year.
The remittance numbers were in line with expectations, said University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics dean Cid Terosa.
“Remittances are expected to increase in the last two quarters or second half of the year because of greater deployment of workers and seasonality factors such as greater spending towards the last quarter of the year,” he said.
Cash remittances–or money transfers coursed through banks–rose by 4.6 percent to $2.589 billion to bring the year-to-date inflows up 3.9 percent at $19.808 billion.
“By country source, the United States registered the highest share of overall remittances in January to August 2019 at 37 percent,” the BSP said.
The United States was followed by Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, and Kuwait.
“The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78.4 percent of total cash remittances in January to August 2019,” the BSP said. (GMA News)
