Remittances from overseas Filipinos hit record $3.5B in December 2025

Remittances from overseas Filipinos rebounded to a record in December 2025 to bring the full-year inflows to an all-time high, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday showed.

Cash remittances or money transfers coursed through banks or formal channels for the month stood at $3.522 billion, 4.2% higher than the $3.380 billion the same month in 2024, and up from the $2.910 billion the previous month.

Land-based workers sent in $2.83 billion, while sea-based workers remitted $0.69 billion.

This brought year-to-date cash remittances to a record $35.634 billion, up 3.3% from $34.493 billion in 2024.

The United States remained the top source of cash remittances with 39.7%, followed by Singapore with 7.3%, Saudi Arabia with 6.6%, Japan with 5.0%, and the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates with 4.6% each.

Canada accounted for 3.5%, Qatar with 2.9%, Taiwan with 2.8%, and Hong Kong with 2.5%. Other countries made up the remaining 20.6%.

The BSP noted, however, that remittances coursed through money couriers cannot be disaggregated by actual country source, and these are lodged under the country where the main offices are located, which is in the United States in many cases.

Personal remittances — the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels — grew to a record $3.892 billion, bringing the full-year level up 3.3% to $36.619 billion. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News