Remittance inflows slip to 11-month low in April

Remittance inflows from overseas Filipinos slipped in April to mark the lowest level in 11 months, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Thursday showed.

Cash remittances or money transfers through banks or formal channels stood at $2.485 billion, down from $2.671 billion in March but 3.7% higher than the $2.395 billion in the same month last year.

It is the lowest in 11 months since inflows were recorded at $2.425 billion in April 2022.

This brought the year-to-date cash remittances to $10.487 billion, up 3.2% from $10.167 billion in the same period a year ago.

"The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first four months of 2023," the BSP said in a statement.

The United States accounted for the largest share of remittances for the month with 41.3%, followed by Singapore at 7.0%, Saudi Arabia at 5.9%, Japan at 5.1%, the United Kingdom at 4.5%, and the United Arab Emirates at 4.2%.

Canada accounted for 3.2% of total remittances, Qatar 2.7%, South Korea 2.7%, and Taiwan 2.6%. Other countries shared the remaining 20.7%.

Personal remittances — the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels — hit $2.773 billion, down from $2.9673 billion in March but higher than $2.671 billion in April 2022.

The BSP attributed the annual increase in personal remittances to higher inflows from land-based workers with work contracts of a year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than a year.

Year-to-date personal remittances climbed by 3.2% to $11.671 billion from $11.317 billion. —VBL, GMA Integrated News