MANILA, Philippines - Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reached a six-month high of $2.27 billion in June on the back of sustained overseas demand for skilled Filipino workers, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported yesterday.
Central bank data showed personal remittances climbed seven percent to $2.27 billion in June, the highest since December 2013, from $2.122 billion in the same period last year.
This brought the six-month figure to $12.674 billion, 6.2 percent higher than a year ago level.
“Remittances remained robust on the back of stable demand for skilled Filipinos abroad,” the BSP said.
Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the central bank pointed out that job orders for Filipinos abroad reached 371,097 in the first half of the year.
More than a third of these were for service, production, and professional, technical and related employment in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Taiwan and Qatar.
Cash remittances alone increased by 5.9 percent to $2.05 billion in June from year-ago levels, while the first-half level grew 5.8 percent to $11.422 billion.
The central bank said money sent home by land-based workers went up 4.8 percent to $8.7 billion in the six-month period, while those wired by sea-based workers jumped 8.8 percent to $2.7 billion.
The bulk of the cash remittances in the six months to June were sent from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Canada, and Hong Kong.
Aside from the demand for Filipinos abroad, the increase in remittances was supported by banks’ continued efforts to expand their remittance services abroad through tie-ups and establishments of facilities.
The BSP noted commercial banks’ established tie-ups, remittance centers, correspondent banks, and branches or representative offices abroad climbed by six percent to 4,675 in the first half from 4,409 in the same period last year.
Remittances play a big role in supporting domestic consumption, which remains to be the largest driver of the Philippine economy.
Last year, cash remittances surged 7.4 percent to $22.968 billion, the highest annual level ever recorded by the central bank. Personal remittances, meanwhile, grew 8.6 percent to $25.351 billion.