Remittances from the overseas Filipinos (OF) surpassed the 4% projected growth of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), hitting a record of US$31.3 billion (approx. Ph1.6 trillion) by the end of the year 2017.
In the month of December alone, personal remittances reached a record of US$3 billion which increased about 7.9% compared to the same month in 2016.
According to BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr., the total amount of personal remittances for 2017 is 5.3% higher than the $29.7 billion collected in the previous year.
The combined remittances came from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany, and Hong Kong made up 80.1% of total cash remittances.
This includes the net compensation of net compensation of employees, personal transfers, and capital transfers between households.
The 2017 total amount of OF personal remittances covers the 10.0% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) while 8.3% is for the gross national income (GNI.)
