According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), personal remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rose by 3.3% in September.
Data from the BSP released on Friday, November 15, showed that remittances for the month reached $3.34 billion, up from $3.23 billion in September 2023.
The BSP attributed the growth to higher remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, as well as sea- and land-based workers with contracts less than one year.
Personal remittances include cash sent through banks, informal channels, and remittances in kind. Of the total, cash remittances sent through banks amounted to $3.01 billion, a 3.3% increase compared to the $2.91 billion recorded in the same month a year ago.
The central bank attributed this increase to higher remittances from land- and sea-based workers.
“On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances rose by 3.0 percent to US$25.23 billion in January-September 2024 from the US$24.49 billion registered in January-September 2023,” the BSP stated.
This increase in the January to September period was largely driven by the cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, with the US continuing to be the largest source of remittances, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
