Remittances hit 3-month high
BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said personal remittances climbed 6.8 percent to $2.75 billion in June from $2.57 billion in the same month last year, the highest since the record $2.91 billion last March. File
MANILA, Philippines - Remittances from overseas Filipinos reached their highest level in three months last June amid the sustained demand for skilled Filipino workers abroad, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday.
BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said personal remittances climbed 6.8 percent to $2.75 billion in June from $2.57 billion in the same month last year, the highest since the record $2.91 billion last March.
For the first half, personal remittances grew 5.5 percent to $15.36 billion from $14.57 billion in the same period last year.
Personal remittances represent the sum of net compensation of employees, personal transfers and capital transfers between households. It measures the total amount of remittance flows into the country, including 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.
Espenilla said cash remittances went up 5.7 percent to $2.47 billion in June from $2.33 billion in the same month last year, the highest since cash remittances reached a monthly record of $2.61 billion last March.
During the month, the US and the United Arab Emirates contributed 1.9 percentage points to the 5.7 percent overall growth, while Hong Kong and Singapore contributed a combined 1.1 percentage points.
Cash remittances coursed through banks grew 4.7 percent to $13.81 billion in the first half of the year from $13.19 billion in the same period last year.
The BSP chief said bulk or 80 percent of cash remittances from January to June came from the US, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany and Hong Kong.
“The sustained increase in remittances was supported by stable demand for skilled Filipinos abroad,” Espenilla said.
Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed 1.14 million more Filipino workers were deployed abroad in the first half of the year.
The BSP has set a four percent growth target for both personal and cash remittances this year.
Cash remittances from about 12 million Filipinos living and working abroad contribute about 10 percent to the country’s output as measured by gross domestic product (GDP).
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