Overseas Filipinos sent back to the Philippines $11.68 billion worth of foreign currency earnings in the first four months this year, an increase of 3.2 percent from year-ago remittances of only $11.32 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Thursday.
Of the amount, the cash component sent through the banks totaled $10.49 billion, also up 3.2 percent from only $10.17 billion last year.
The bulk of remittances came from the United States, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia and traced to earnings generated mostly by land-based overseas Filipino workers and their sea-based counterparts.
In April alone, the remittances rose 3.8 percent to $2.77 billion from the year-ago level of only $2.67 billion.
The remittances, along with earnings generated by the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, help boost the country’s stock of foreign currency making up the gross international reserves or GIR that reflects the country’s ability to pay for maturing foreign loans or finance trade obligations arising from import activities.
