OFW remittances rise to $2.48 billion in February

FILIPINO migrant workers were able to increase their remittances back home in February this year, as larger economies around the world start to recover and reopen.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Thursday that cash remittances to the Philippines hit a total of $2.48 billion in February. This is 5.1 percent more than the remittances sent to the country in February 2020 at $2.36 billion.

Broken down, cash remittances from land-based workers increased by 7.8 percent to $1.982 billion, while that of sea-based workers decreased by 4.6 percent to $495 million.

For the first two months of 2021, cash remittances amounted to $5.1 billion, rising by 1.5 percent from the $5 billion level in the same period last year.

The BSP said the growth in cash remittances for the first two months of the year largely emanated from remittances of Filipinos based in the United States, Malaysia and Singapore.

In particular, in terms of country sources, the US registered the highest share to overall remittances at 41 percent for the first two months, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Qatar.

The combined remittances from these top 10 countries accounted for 78.3 percent of total cash remittances during the period.

ING Bank Economist Nicholas Mapa said the remittance growth during the month was an “upside surprise” from current market expectations. He also said this is expected to provide some support to the local currency in the near term.

“Expectations for modest positive growth for Overseas Filipino remittances will continue to be supportive of the Peso in the near term, especially with the economic recession weighing on corporate demand for the dollar,” Mapa said.

“In 2021, we expect remittance flows to adequately cover the more modest trade deficit, a development that should help lend appreciation pressure to the Peso in the near term,” he added.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) economist Michael Ricafort, meanwhile, said that the future volume of remittances to the country will largely depend on further recovery of the major host countries’ economies.

Image credits: Nonie Reyes

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