February remittances grew 3% to $2.65b—BSP

CASH remittances grew for the 37th straight month in February 2024, providing a lifeline to the Philippine economy despite a host of external challenges.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said cash remittances amounted to $2.65 billion in February, up 3 percent from $2.57 billion in the same month last year.

“The expansion in cash remittances in February 2024 was due to growth in receipts from both land- and seabased workers,” the BSP said in a statement Monday.

Data, however, showed that the figure went down from $2.84 billion registered in January on seasonal factors.

This brought the total cash remittances in the first two months to $5.48 billion, up by 2.8 percent from $5.33 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also increased 3 percent in February to $2.95 billion from $2.86 billion a year ago.

“The increase in personal remittances in February 2024 was due to remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year,” the BSP said.

Cumulative personal remittances in the first two months increased 2.8 percent to $6.10 billion in from $5.93 billion a year earlier.

The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates contributed mainly to the increase in remittances from January to February, the BSP said.

It said that on terms of country source, the U.S. had the highest share of overall remittances during the period, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

Remittances, which account for about a tenth of the gross national income, support household spending in the Philippines and fuel the growth of the banking, real estate, transportation and services in the Philippines.