MANILA, Philippines — The Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas recorded a 2.5% increase in personal remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFW), going from $3.21 billion in June 2024 compared to $3.13 billion in June 2023.
This led to a cumulative remittance from January to June 2024 of $18.10 billion, an increase of 2.9% from the same time period in 2023. January to June 2023 had a cumulative remittance of $17.59 billion.
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“The increase in personal remittances in June 2024 was due to higher remittances sent by 1) land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and 2) sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year,” the BSP wrote in a statement on Thursday.
From the June 2024 remittances, $2.88 billion were transmitted through banks, which is a 2.5% increase from the $2.81 billion remitted in June 2023. The BSP likewise attributed this hike to the increased receipts from sea and land based workers.
Meanwhile, cash remittances grew by 2.9% to $16.25 billion from January to June from the $15.79 billion recorded in the same period in 2023, on a year-to-date basis.
The BSP said the numbers mentioned may not add up to the total, as they have rounded up the values.
There was a growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. The bulk of OFW remittances came from the US, contributing a total of 40.9%. Singapore-based OFWs contributed 6.9% of remittances while 6% came from Saudi Arabia.
The BSP recorded the country sources for OFW remittances:
- US: 40.9%
- Singapore: 6.9%
- Saudi Arabia: 6.0%
- Japan: 5.0%
- United Kingdom: 5.0%
- United Arab Emirates: 4.1%
- Canada: 3.4%
- Qatar: 2.9%
- Republic of Korea: 2.8%
- Taiwan: 2.7%
Other countries contributed 20.4% of the remaining remittances.
Remittances have been a strong a steady contributor to the economy, representing 8.5% of the country's gross domestic product in 2023.