Overseas Filipinos’ personal remittances rose to $2.889B in August —BSP
Money sent by overseas Filipinos grew in August as further reopening host countries for migrant workers globally continues, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed Friday.
Central bank data showed that personal remittances — the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels — stood at $2.889 billion last month, up 4.8% from the $2.756 billion posted in the same month last year.
This brought the year-to-date personal remittances to $22.672 billion, up 5.9% from $21.414 billion recorded in the January to August 2020 period.
“The growth in personal remittances in August was due to remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, which increased by 4.2% to $2.207 billion from $2.118 billion in the same month last year, and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year, which grew by 8.4% to $629 million from $580 million a year ago,” the BSP said.
Cash remittances — money transfers coursed through banks — amounted to $2.609 billion in August, up 5.1% from $2.483 billion registered in August 2020.
“The growth in cash remittances was due to the increase in remittances from land-based workers and sea-based workers, which rose by 4.1% to $2.032 billion from $1.952 billion and 8.6% to $577 million from $531 million, respectively,” the BSP said.
Year-to-date cash remittances totaled $20.38 billion, up 5.7% from $19.285 billion in the same period last year.
“The growth in cash remittances from the United States (US), Malaysia, and South Korea contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January-August 2021,” the central bank said.
In terms of country sources, the BSP said the US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 40.7% in the first eight months of the year, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, South Korea, Qatar, and Taiwan.
“OFW remittances remain resilient despite the repatriation of more than 700,000 OFWs since the pandemic, given the increased social function of providing assistance to OFW families and dependents in the country adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic/lockdowns since last year, as well as the need to send more remittances to make up for higher inflation in recent months,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said in a commentary.
“Further re-opening and recovery of many economies worldwide especially OFW host countries and developed countries that move closer to herd immunity fundamentally led to more OFW jobs/employment created, thereby also supporting the recent growth/improvement in OFW remittances,” Ricafort said.
The economist said that remittances and conversion to pesos are expected to seasonally increase in fourth quarter of the year, especially towards the Christmas season, as consistently seen for many years/decades, thereby could support faster growth in consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the economy, and would also support economic recovery moving forward.
“OFW remittances could improve further in the coming months that support the country’s economic recovery prospects from COVID-19 as the global economic recovery would still improve further as more countries, especially those that host large numbers of OFWs, around the world reach herd immunity in the coming months, entailing more job/employment opportunities for OFWs,” Ricafort said. — RSJ, GMA News