MONEY sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) hit $3.42 billion in October, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Monday, 2.7 percent higher compared to the year-earlier $3.33 billion.
The amount was also higher than the $3.34 billion posted in September, but growth was the lowest in four months.
October’s result, the BSP said in a statement, was driven by “remittances from both land-based and sea-based workers.”
It brought cumulative remittances for the 10 months of the year to $31.49 billion, 3.0 percent higher than the $30.57 billion recorded in the comparable 2023 period.
Money sent home via banks alone totaled $3.08 billion in October, 2.7 percent up from $3.0 billion a year earlier and 2.3 percent higher compared to September’s $3.01 billion.
Year to date, cash remittances were 3.0 percent higher at $28.30 billion from $27.49 billion.
Cash remittance growth for the 10-month period was mainly due to inflows from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, the BSP said.
By country source, the US continued to account for the biggest share (41.2 percent), followed by Singapore (7.1 percent), Saudi Arabia (6.2 percent), Japan (4.9 percent) and the United Kingdom (4.8 percent).
Rounding out the top 10 were the UAE (4.3 percent), Canada (3.5 percent), Qatar (2.8 percent), Taiwan (2.8 percent) and South Korea (2.5 percent).
Sought for comment, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said that higher remittances were expected as most OFWs had sent money back home for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
“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,” he added.
Be the first to comment