The personal remittances of overseas Filipinos, an important source of foreign exchange for the Philippines, grew by 2.8 percent in the first four months this year to USD 12.01 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Monday.
This compared against only USD 11.68 billion a year earlier and resulted from the combined impact of land- and sea-based overseas Filipinos sending home their foreign currency earnings through the banks.
In April alone, such remittances proved 3.1 percent higher to USD 2.86 billion from USD 2.77 billion a year earlier.
Their continued flow helps the Philippines fortify its balance of payments or BOP, a key metric on the country’s capacity to meet its foreign-currency requirements as and when required, such as maturing loans and trade obligations borne of the necessity to boost commerce and, by extension, the economy as a whole.
The BSP last reported the BOP as a surplus of only USD 238 million in the first three months this year versus the year-ago surplus of USD 3.5 billion.
