Remittances up by 2.6% in March — BSP

MANILA, Philippines — Personal remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) grew by 2.6%, amounting to $3.05 billion (P175,609,850,000.00) in March 2024 from $2.97 billion (P171,003,690,000.00) in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

This is higher than the $2.95 billion (P169,852,150,000.00) OFW remittances recorded in February 2024. 

In a press release on Wednesday, the central bank attributed the increase in personal remittances to the inputs of 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.

For the first three months of 2024, personal remittances increased by 2.8%, posting $9.15 billion (P526,838,700,000.00) from $8.90 billion (P512,444,200,000.00) in the first quarter of 2023.

Personal remittances comprise the net compensation of employees, personal transfers and capital transfers between households. 

It includes all current transfers, whether in cash or in kind, made by resident households to non-resident households or received from them.

Likewise, cash remittances coursed through banks had an uptick of 2.5% in March 2024 amounting to $2.74 billion (P157,797,970,000.00). This is a significant increase from the $2.67 billion (P153,766,635,000.00) in March last year.

On a year-to-date basis, the 2024 first quarter cash remittances amounted to $8.22 billion (P473,537,760,000.00), a significant markup by 2.7% than the $8.00 billion (P460,864,000,000.00) registered in the first quarter of 2023.

Remittances are funds sent by individuals working or living abroad to their home country.

These inflows play a crucial role in the economy's balance of payments, which tracks all economic transactions between a country and the rest of the world.

The main contributors of the growth in cash remittances in the first quarter of this year, according to the BSP, are the following countries:

• United States
• Saudi Arabia
• United Arab Emirates
• Singapore

In terms of the countries where these remittances originated, the US had the highest share of overall remittances during the period, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia.