January sees sustained strength of remittances

MONEY SENT HOME by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) continued to grow in January, sustaining the trend of above $2 billion in monthly inflows in a span of one year as the dollar continued to gain strength, the central bank reported yesterday.

Money sent home by OFWs reached $2.169 billion as the year opened, up by 8.6% from the $1.997 billion recorded in January 2016, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported.

That marked the 12th straight month that monthly remittances exceeded $2 billion since February 2016’s $2.098 billion.

However, January’s remittance was less than the record $2.559 billion posted in December that reflected a seasonal peak as workers sent more funds to their families for the holidays.

In a statement, BSP said cash sent home by land-based OFWs fueled January’s 13.5% growth in remittances to $1.8 billion.

That offset an 8.3% year-onyear decline in flows from seafarers that has been dropping since previous months amid “stiffer competition” in the industry.

Filipinos working in the United States remained the biggest source of remittances in January. Other major sources were Singapore, Qatar, and Japan.

Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at Union Bank of the Philippines, said remittances likely got a boost from the weaker peso and a recovery in oil prices.

“There are two underlying reasons for the increase: the peso’s weakness may have prompted overseas Filipinos to send more because they can get more than the usual; and the slow but recovering resource-based economies such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, etc. are now hiring again as oil prices recover,” Mr. Asuncion said when sought for comment.