The personal remittance of overseas Filipinos has slightly increased last November 2020 despite the repatriation of more than 300,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) show that the personal remittances of overseas Filipinos amounting to US$2.639 billion on November 2019 grew by 0.1 percent or to US$2.643 billion on November 2020.
The slight increase has been attributed to the improvement in the remittances of land-based workers with contracts of one year or longer.
Experts said the fast economic recovery of host countries such as in the Middle East has contributed to the opening of more jobs and easing of quarantine measures.
According to the BSP, among the countries where most of the remittances came from are the United States of America, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Hong Kong, Qatar, and South Korea. – Report from Naomi Tiburcio