Remittances grow in November

Remittances from overseas Filipino workers continued to grow in November last year, bringing the 11-month tally 5.1 percent higher at $28.24 billion from the year-ago level of $26.88 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said personal remittances from overseas Filipinos (OFs) rose 3.2 percent to $2.53 billion in November 2017 from $2.45 billion in the same month in 2016.

This showed a sustained growth in personal remittances from the previous month. However, this pace was slower than the 9.7 percent increase seen last October, with personal remittances amounting to $2.55 billion.

Personal remittances represent the sum of net compensation of employees, personal transfers, and capital transfers between households. It measures cash and non-cash items that flow through both formal or via electronic wire and informal channels such as money or goods carried across borders.

“The growth in personal remittances for January to November 2017 was supported by the sustained expansion of remittances from land-based overseas Filipinos with work contracts of one year or more (3.7 percent), as well as those from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year,” Espenilla said.

Meanwhile, cash remittances coursed through banks climbed two percent to $2.26 billion in November 2017 from $2.22 billion in the same month the previous year.

Espenilla said the top countries which contributed to the growth are the US and Germany.

For the first 11 months of 2017, cash remittances grew four percent to $25.32 from $24.34 billion in the same 11-month period in 2016.

The BSP said cash remittances from both landbased and seabased workers from January to November last year rose 3.7 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively.

The bulk of cash remittances during the period came from the US, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany, and Hong Kong, which in total accounted for 80.2 percent of total cash remittances.

Aside from boosting consumption, remittances together with business process outsourcing and tourism receipts also serve as a major source of foreign exchange buffer that help shield the Philippines from external shocks.