Remittances down 1.7% in January

Remittances from overseas Filipinos opened the year with a drop both month-on-month and year-on-year, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday showed.

Central bank data show cash remittances — money transfers coursed through banks — fell 1.7% to $2.603 billion in January 2021 from $2.648 billion the same month last year.

Cash remittances from land-based workers contracted 2.4% to $2.044 billion, while those from sea-based workers increased 1% to $58 million.

The United States accounted for the highest share with 40.9%, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78.2%.

Meanwhile, personal remittances — the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels — dropped 1.7% to $2.895 billion in January from $2.944 billion.

Personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of at least a year dropped 2.4% to $2.219 billion from $2.274 billion. Those from sea-based workers and land-based workers with contracts of less than a year fell 1% to $609 million.—AOL, GMA News