Remittances decline in August 2018

8-month tally still up 2.4% to $21.2 billion

MANILA, Philippines — Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos declined by 1.4 percent to $2.76 billion from the $2.8 billion in August recorded in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

Despite the decline in August, the BSP said the eight-month tally still managed to grow by 2.4 percent to $21.2 billion compared to the $20.72 billion posted in the same period in 2017.

 “Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos increased by 2.4 percent year-on-year to reach $21.2 billion in the first eight months of 2018,” BSP officer-in-charge Maria Almasara Cyd Tuaño-Amador said in a statement.

Broken down, the BSP said personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more grew by 2.1 percent, reaching $16.3 billion from January to August.

Transfers from sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts also expanded by 3.8 percent to $4.4 billion year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the BSP said cash remittances in August also went down by 0.9 percent to $2.48 billion from last year’s level of $2.5 billion.

This brought the eight-month tally to $19.06 billion, 2.5 percent higher than the $18.6 billion posted in the same period last year.

Cash remittances sent by land-based workers as of end-August rose by 2.1 percent to $15.1 billion, while transfers from sea-based workers grew by 3.8 percent to $4 billion.

By country, the BSP said more than 79 percent of the total cash remittances from January to August came from the US, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Canada, Germany and Hong Kong.

However, the central bank said countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar contributed to the decline in cash remittances last August.

The BSP has set a four percent growth target for both personal and cash remittances this year.

Beneficiaries of remittances emerge as one of the winners of the continued weakening of the peso against the dollar.

Remittances continue to boost personal consumption, helping sustain a steady growth. Personal remittances accounted for 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 8.3 percent of gross national income (GNI) last year.