Remittances rebound in September

Remittances posted an increase in September after a drop in the previous month, albeit still not enough to offset losses earlier in the year, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday showed.

Cash remittances — money transfers coursed through banks — grew 9.3% to $2.601 billion in September from $2.379 billion the same month in 2019, and $2.483 billion in August.

Meanwhile, personal remittances — the sum of transfers in cash or in kind — rose 9.1% to $2.888 billion from $2.648 billion the previous year and $2.756 billion in August.

"This increase was due to the growth in remittances from both land-based ($2.031 billion) and sea-based ($570 million) workers, which rose by 10.2% and 6.5% respectively," the BSP said in an accompanying statement.

Year-to-date, cash remittances were down 1.4% to $21.886 billion from $22.187 billion, while personal remittances fell 1.4% to $24.302 billion from $24.643 billion.

Cash remittances for the nine-month period came mainly from the United States, Singapore, Qatar, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, which accounted for 78.8% of the total for the period.

Meanwhile, declines were reported in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Kuwait, and the United Kingdom.—AOL, GMA News