OFW remittances up 3 percent to $3.1 billion in August

MANILA, Philippines — Dollars sent home by Filipinos abroad grew almost three percent to $3.1 billion in August, as overseas workers sent more money to their families back home amid the continued rise in commodity prices, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Data from the BSP showed that personal remittances – the sum of net compensation of employees, personal transfers, and capital transfers between households – reached $3.1 billion in August.

This was 2.8 percent higher than the $3.02 billion in the same month last year and was an improvement from the 2.5-percent growth recorded a month ago.

The BSP said the increase was brought about by the 3.1-percent rise in remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, to $2.38 billion from $2.31 billion.

Similarly, remittances from sea and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year also grew, although more slowly, by 1.4 percent to $660 million from $650 million.

From January to August, personal remittances inched up by 2.9 percent to $24.01 billion from $23.34 billion in the same period in 2022.

On the other hand, cash remittances coursed through banks also improved by 2.7 percent to $2.8 billion.

The expansion in cash remittances in August was due to the growth in receipts from land and sea-based workers.

Cash remittances from land-based workers increased by 3.2 percent to $2.2 billion while the amount sent home by sea-based workers went up by a percentage to $600 million.

For the eight-month period, cash remittances picked up by 2.8 percent to reach $21.58 billion from the 2022 level of $20.99 billion.

“The growth in cash remittances from the US, Saudi Arabia and Singapore contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first eight months of 2023,” the BSP said.

As to overall remittances for the eight-month period, the US topped the list with a share of 41.6 percent, followed by Singapore with 6.9 percent and Saudi Arabia with 5.9 percent.

Other top sources include Japan, the UK, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Qatar, Taiwan and Korea.

Last year, the BSP fell short of its four percent growth target for remittances after dollars sent home by Filipinos grew by just 3.6 percent to $36.14 billion.

For this year, the central bank already lowered the target for both personal and cash remittances to just a three percent expansion.