OVERSEAS PINOYS SEND HOME $2.4B, A 5-MO HIGH

REMITTANCES sent by Filipinos abroad to their families in the Philippines increased to a five-month high in April this year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The BSP said cash remittances coursed through banks reached $2.395 billion in April 2022, some 3.9 percent higher than the $2.305 billion posted in the same month in 2021.

The Central Bank’s data showed this growth was the highest since November 2021 when cash remittances posted growth of 5.1 percent.

“The expansion in cash remittances was due to the growth in receipts from land-based and seabased workers, which increased by 4.7 percent [to $1.863 billion from $1.779 billion] and 1.4 percent [to $533 million from $526 million], respectively,” the BSP said.

On a year-to-date basis, BSP data showed that cash remittances grew by 2.7 percent to $10.167 billion from $9.898 billion registered in the comparable period last year.

The data showed the growth in cash remittances from the United States (US), Saudi Arabia, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January-april of 2022.

Meanwhile, in terms of country sources, the US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 41.2 percent in the first four months of 2022, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Qatar, South Korea, and Taiwan.

“The combined remittances from these top 10 countries accounted for 79.2 percent of total cash remittances during the period,” the BSP said.

Meanwhile, Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFS) grew by 3.8 percent year-on-year to reach $2.671 billion in April 2022 from $2.574 billion recorded in the same month last year.

“This resulted in cumulative personal remittances rising by 2.6 percent in the first four months of 2022 to $11.317 billion from $11.028 billion registered in the comparable period in 2021,” the BSP said.

The increase in personal remittances in April was due to remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more. ese increased by 4.7 percent to $2.022 billion from $1.931 billion in the same month last year.

Remittances from sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year grew by 1.4 percent to $581 million from $574 million a year ago.