Remittances via banks reach $9.4 billion
Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos amounted to $9.35 billion as of end-April, up 3.5 percent year-on-year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
These bank-channelled remittances came mostly from remitters based in the US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Japan, Singapore, UK, Canada, Germany, Qatar and Kuwait.
The 10 countries represented about 80 percent of total cash remittances however the BSP said tracing the transfer sources are limited since correspondent banks are majority located in the US.
Personal remittances, in the meantime, totaled $10.426 billion in the first four months, it was four percent more compared to same time in 2017.
In a statement, BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said the steady remittance inflows from land-based overseas Filipino workers with work contracts of one year or more continue to boost personal remittances. Land-based workers remitted $8.1 billion. Sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts sent home $2.1 billion.
For the month of April alone, Espenilla said cash remittances were up 12.7 percent year-on-year to $2.347 billion. Remittances by land-based workers increased by 15.1 percent to $1.8 billion while sea-based workers’ remittances rose by 4.8 percent to $500 million.
The US contributed the highest share to bank-channeled transfers followed by Canada and Singapore.
Personal remittances for the month of April also registered an increase of 12.9 percent year-onyear to $2.616 billion. Personal remittances, as defined by the BSP, is the sum of the net compensation of employees. This data was first released in 2012.
Remittances as the country’s major source of foreign currency contribute a great deal in the current account, a main component of the balance of payments (BOP) balance.
The BSP said last week that while they expect a bigger current account deficit this year of $3.1 billion compared to what was estimated earlier of only $700 million, the steady remittances will remain a reliable source of inflows.
Other current account support will come from business process outsourcing and tourism receipts.
For 2018, remittances are expected to grow four percent, the same projection in the last two years. The overall BOP is expected to hit a shortfall of $1.5 billion this year. The BSP said at just -0.4 percent of GDP, the deficit is considered “very manageable” at projected levels.
In the past months, remittances have been on the downtrend because of Middle East issues on interal hiring and the deployment ban to Kuwait.
Both cash and personal remittances for the month of April are lower than what was reported in March of $2.360 billion and $2.627 billion, respectively.