Cash remittances up 4.4% at $2.48 B in Jan.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said remittances sent through the banking system increased by 4.4 percent year-on-year in January to $2.48 billion.

The BSP reported that cash remittances from land-based overseas Filipinos amounted to $1.95 billion during the month, up 2.3 percent.

Sea-based workers sent home $530 million, higher by 12.7 percent year-on-year.

By country source, the central bank said the US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 35.5 percent.

Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Canada, Qatar, Hong Kong, and Kuwait were also top sources of remittance.

“The combined remittances from these countries accounted for almost 78 percent of total cash remittances,” said BSP.

Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos, in the meantime, increased by 3.4 percent year-on-year in January to $2.75 billion.

Personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more went up by 2.3 percent to $2.12 billion.

“Meanwhile, those from seabased and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year rose by 12.6 percent to $580 million,” said the BSP.

Last year, cash remittances rose by 3.1 percent to $28.94 billion from 2017, while personal remittances went up by three percent to $32.21 billion.