The personal remittances of overseas Filipinos in the first five months this year rose 3.0 percent to USD 14.89 billion from only USD14.46 billion in the year-ago period, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Monday.
An important source of foreign currency liquidity that in recent years typically account for under 10 percent of local output measured as the gross domestic product (GDP), the remittances rose 3.7 percent in May alone to USD 2.88 billion from only USD 2.78 a year earlier.
“The increase in personal remittances in May 2024 was due to remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and from sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year,” the BSP said.
Also, of the personal remittances from overseas Filipinos, the cash remittances sent through banks amounted to USD 2.58 billion in May this year, higher by 3.6 percent than the USD 2.49 billion posted in May last year. The expansion in cash remittances in May 2024 was due to growth in receipts from both land- and sea-based workers.
The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore contributed to the increase in remittances in the January-to-May 2024 period.
In terms of countries of origin, the U.S. had the highest share of overall remittances during the period, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia, the BSP said.
The cash remittances of overseas Filipinos has steadily risen from USD 29.9 billion in 2020, USD 31.42 billion in 2021, USD 32.54 billion in 2022 and USD 33.49 billion last year.
