OVERSEAS Filipino worker (OFW) remittances rose to their highest so far for the year in July, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Monday.
At $3.43 billion, the personal remittances were 3.2 percent up from the year-earlier $3.32 billion and were also 6.85 percent more than the $3.21 billion posted in June.
The result, also the highest since December 2023’s $3.63 billion, brought year-to-date remittances to $21.53 billion — 3.0 percent more compared to the $20.91 billion recorded a year earlier.
July’s increase, the BSP said in a statement, “was due to higher 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.”
Money sent home via banks alone totaled $3.08 billion, 3.1 percent up from $2.99 billion in July last year and also higher than the $2.88 billion posted a month earlier.
“The expansion in cash remittances in July 2024 was due to the growth in receipts from land- and sea-based workers,” the BSP said.
Year-on-year growth for both personal and cash remittances was the highest since May’s 3.7 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.
Year to date, cash remittances rose 2.9 percent to $19.33 billion from $18.79 billion.
Cash remittance growth for the seven-month period was mainly due to inflows from the United States, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, the BSP said.
By country source, the US continued to account for the biggest share (41.1 percent), followed by Singapore (6.9 percent), Saudi Arabia (6.0 percent), Japan (5.0 percent) and the United Kingdom (4.9 percent).
Rounding out the top 10 were the UAE (4.2 percent), Canada (3.5 percent), Qatar (2.8 percent), South Korea (2.7 percent) and Taiwan (2.7 percent).
Sought for comment, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said remittances saw a seasonal increase.
Money sent home by Filipinos working abroad usually peaks in July, ahead of the start of the school year.
“For the coming months, single-digit/modest growth in OFW remittances could still continue as OFW families still need to cope up with relatively higher inflation locally that would require the sending of more remittances,” Ricafort said.
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