Remittances up 0.5 percent in January

(Updated 1:04 p.m., March 17, 2015) After setting a record in December, cash remittances or money sent through banks by overseas Filipinos increased by 0.5 percent to $1.814 billion from $1.804 billion a year earlier.

 

In a statement Monday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers posted inflows of $1.4 billion and $0.5 billion, respectively.

 

"Continued demand for skilled Filipino manpower contributed to the steady inflow of remittances," the central bank noted.

 

"Moreover, the continued efforts of bank and non-bank remittance service providers to expand their international and domestic market coverage through their network of remittance business partners worldwide provided support to steady remittance flows," it said.

 

The bulk of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canada. 

 

In December last year, cash remittances expanded by 6.6 percent to $2.3 billion, the highest monthly level to date. 

 

Meanwhile, personal remittances from overseas Filipinos amounted to $2.011 billion in January, up by 0.2 percent from $2.007 billion last year. 

 

Personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more registered inflows of $1.5 billion while those from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year reached $0.5 billion.

 

It is the sum of net compensation of employees, personal transfers and capital transfers between households.

BSP cited reports from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration which indicated that 26.3 percent of total approved job orders of 77,009 in January were processed during the period.

 

The POEA also reported that workers with processed contracts went up by 6.7 percent to 2.4 million last year. — Kathryn Mae P. Tubadeza/JDS, GMA News