FILIPINO migrant workers continued to send more cash back home at the start of the “ber” months as the global economy adjusts back to normal, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Monday.
According to Central Bank data, overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) cash remittances grew 5.2 percent in September this year from the same month last year, sending about $2.74 billion back to the Philippine economy during the month.
The growth is faster than the 5.1 percent in August. The total volume of cash remittances is also $128 million larger than the level they sent in the previous month.
The September remittance performance brought the total OFW cash remittance to the Philippines to $23.12 billion in the first nine months of the year. This is 5.6 percent larger than the $21.89 billion in the same January-to-September period in 2020.
Broken down, remittances increased from both land-based and sea-based workers during the month.
Remittances from land-based workers rose by 6.2 percent to $2.156 billion from $2.031 billion in September last year. Remittances from sea-based workers, meanwhile, grew 1.9 percent in September to $581 million from $570 million last year.
The BSP said the growth in cash remittances from the United States, Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea greatly boosted the increase in remittances in the first nine months of the year.
In terms of country sources, the US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 40.8 percent in the first nine months of 2021, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar, and South Korea.
The combined remittances from these top 10countries accounted for 78.9 percent of total cash remittances.
Earlier this week, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the prospect of stronger overseas Filipino remittance inflows in time for the Christmas holidays is expected to support the peso.
Image courtesy of Nonie Reyes
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