Filtered By: Money
Money

Personal remittances hit record-high of $3.49B in December 2022 —BSP


Remittances from Filipinos abroad grew to a record-high in December last year, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday showed.

The BSP said this was due to an increase in demand for foreign workers overseas, as economies began to reopen.

Overseas Filipinos’ personal remittances — the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels — in the last month of 2022 stood at $3.49 billion, up 5.7% from $3.30 billion recorded in December 2021.

“The increase in personal remittances in December 2022 was due to higher remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year,” the BSP said.

The full-year 2022 personal remittances also reached an all-time high of $36.14 billion, according to the central bank.

Last year’s personal remittances level was also 3.6% higher than the $34.88 billion flows in 2021.

“The robust inward remittances reflected the increasing demand for foreign workers amid the reopening of economies,” the BSP said.

Consequently, the full-year 2022 level accounted for 8.9% and 8.4% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national income (GNI), respectively.

Meanwhile, cash remittances — money transfers coursed through banks — totaled $3.16 billion in December, up 5.8% from $2.99 billion recorded in the same period in 2021.

“The expansion in cash remittances in December 2022 was due to the growth in receipts from land- and sea-based workers,” the BSP said.

The full-year 2022 cash remittances amounted to $32.54 billion, up 3.6% from  $31.42 billion in 2021.

“The growth in cash remittances from the United States (U.S.), Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar, and United Kingdom contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January-December 2022,” the central bank said.

 


In terms of country sources, the US posted the highest share of overall remittances in 2022, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia. —Ted Cordero/KBK, GMA Integrated News

LOADING CONTENT