Remittances hit three-month high in October

Remittances from overseas Filipinos continued to grow to mark a three-month high in October, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Wednesday.

Data released by the central bank showed that cash remittances — money transfers coursed through banks — climbed by 2.4% to $2.812 billion from $2.747 billion the same month last year.

This compares with the $2.373 billion in September, and is the highest reading since July’s $2.853 billion.

“The expansion in cash remittances was due to the increase in receipts from land-based and sea-based workers, which rose by 2.8% and 0.6% respectively,” the BSP said in an accompanying statement.

Inflows from land-based workers climbed to $2.247 billion from $2.186 billion, while those from sea-based workers grew to $565 million from $561 million.

Year-to-date cash remittances stood at $25.929 billion, up 5.3% from the $24.633 billion in the comparable period in 2020.

“The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Taiwan, and Malaysia contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January-October 2021,” the BSP said.

The US accounted for the highest share of overall remittances in the first 10 months of the year at 40.9%, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar, and South Korea.

The combined remittances from the top 10 countries made up 79.0% of total cash remittances during the period.

Meanwhile, personal remittances — the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels — rose by 2.4% to $3.117 billion from $3.044 billion in October 2020.

Year-to-date personal remittances jumped 5.4% to $28.816 billion from $27.346 billion in the first 10 months of the previous year.—AOL, GMA News