Remittances post three-month high in October

Remittances continued to climb in October to post a three-month high, but still not enough to offset year-to-date losses, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Tuesday showed.

Central bank data showed that cash remittances — money transfers coursed through banks — rose 2.9% to $2.747 billion in October from $2.671 billion the same month last year, and from $2.601 billion in September.

Meanwhile, personal remittances — the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels — grew 2.5% to $3.044 billion from $2.969 billion last year, and $2.888 billion in September.

"The growth was attributed to the increase in remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more," the BSP said in an accompanying statement.

The latest figures are three-month highs since July, when cash remittances were recorded at $2.783 billion and personal remittances at $3.085 billion.

Year-to-date, cash remittances fell 0.9% to $24.633 billion while personal remittances dropped 1.0% to $27.346 billion.

By country source, cash remittances from Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, and Kuwait recorded declines while those from the United States, Singapore, Qatar, Oman, Hong Kong, and Taiwan increased.

The US posted the highest share of total remittances at 40.2%, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the UK, the UAE, Canada, Hong Kong, Qatar, and Taiwan.

"The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78.7% of the total cash remittances," the BSP said. -MDM, GMA News