Remittances fall to 7-month low in June —BSP

Personal remittances fell to a seven-month low in June, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday showed.

Personal remittances, or the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels, fell by 4.9 percent to $2.615 billion in June.

This is the lowest since registering at $2.526 billion in November 2017, and compares with $2.751billion in June 2017.

Cash remittances, or money transfers coursed through banks, dropped 4.5 percent to $2.357 billion from $2.467 billion.

“The countries that registered the biggest declines in cash remittances in June 2018 are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait,” the central bank said in a statement.

“The Overseas Filipino Workers repatriation program of the government may have partly affected the remittance flows for the month,” it said.

In the first six months of the year, personal remittances grew by 2.8 percent to $15.787 billion and cash remittances rose by 2.7 percent to $14.179 billion.

“Cash remittances coming from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Kingdom (UK), UAE, Japan, Qatar, Germany, Hong Kong, and Canada accounted for more than 79 percent of total cash remittances for the first six months of 2018,” the BSP said. —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News