Remittances rebound in April

Remittances from overseas Filipinos rebounded in April after the decline recorded in February, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday revealed.

Central bank data showed that cash remittances — money transfers coursed through banks — jumped by 3.2% to $2.594 billion from $2.514 billion the same month last year.

Year-to-date cash remittances increased by 2.4% to $7.771 billion from $7.593 billion in the comparable period of 2021.

“The expansion in cash remittances was due to the growth in receipts from land-based and sea-based workers,” the BSP said in an emailed statement.

Inflows from land-based workers grew by 3.7% to $2.021 billion from $1.948 billion, and from sea-based workers by 1.3% to $573 million from $566 million.

“The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia contributed largely to the increase in remittances in the first quarter of 2022,” the central bank said.

The US accounted for 41.5% of remittances, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar, and Malaysia.

Combined remittances from the top 10 countries accounted for 79.1% of total cash remittances for the month.

Personal remittances — the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels — increased by 3.1% to $2.888 billion from $2.801 billion.

Year-to-date personal remittances grew by 2.3% to $8.646 billion from $8.454 billion in the past year. —KBK, GMA News