Remittances reach record high in March – BSP

Money sent home by overseas Filipinos climb to a record high in March, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday showed.

Remittances in cash and in kind, or personal remittances, totaled $2.915 billion in March, compared with $2.606 billion a year earlier and with $2.397 billion last February.

The personal remittances in March surpassed the previous record of $2.823 billion in December 2016.

The latest numbers brought the first quarter remittances to $7.7 billion, up 8.1 percent from the first three months of 2016.

"The increase in personal remittances during the first quarter of the year was driven by the 10.5-percent growth in transfers from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more," the BSP said in an emailed statement.

It helped to offset a 2.0 percent decrease in remittances from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year, the central bank noted.

Cash remittances were up 10.7 percent at $2.6 billion, primarily driven by transfers from Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics Dean Cid L. Terosa noted latest remittance numbers were expected on account of economic recovery in oil-producing countries.

"I expected it because of moderate economic recovery of oil-producing countries in the Middle East and the diversification of OFW (overseas Filipino worker) skills and market for these skills," he said in a text message.

Terosa noted the amount of remittances may continue to tread record highs for the rest of 2017.

"I expect the trend to continue throughout the year," he added. — VDS GMA News