Remittances hit 3-mth high of $2.75B in June

MONEY sent home monthly by overseas Filipino workers ( OFWs) rose to a three- month high of $ 2.75 billion in June, the Bangko Sentral reported on Tuesday.

Personal remittances grew by 6.2 percent from the previous month and were also 6.8 percent higher compared to June last year.

“Growth was boosted largely by the 5.5 percent increase in personal remittances from land- based workers with longterm contracts, whose remittances comprised 77.3 percent of total personal remittances,” the BSP said in a statement.

“It was also supported by the 1.7 percent rise in remittances from sea- based and land- based workers with short- term contracts,” the central bank added.

Year to date remittances reached $ 15.36 billion, up 5.5 percent from a year earlier.

Personal remittances are transfers in cash or in kind, as well as capital transfers between households.

Cash remittances

Cash remittances coursed through banks, meanwhile, totaled $ 2.46 billion in June, up 5.7 percent year- on- year and up 6.7 percent from May.

“Cash remittances from landbased workers ( at $ 1.9 billion) and from sea- based workers ( at $ 0.5 billion), posted a 3.8 percent and 13.3 percent growth, respectively, compared to the level reported in the same month a year ago,” the central bank said.

The United States, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Singapore were said to be the major contributors to cash remittance growth during the month.

The US and the UAE each contributed 1.9 percentage points to the overall growth of 5.7 percent, while Hong Kong and Singapore contributed a combined 1.1 percentage points.

The bulk of cash remittances came from the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany and Hong Kong.

These countries accounted for almost 80 percent of total cash remittances in the first semester of 2017.

Year to date, cash remittances recorded 4.7 percent growth from the the same period a year ago, reaching $ 13.81 billion.