MANILA — Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) rose to USD2.9 billion in May 2019, a 5.5 percent increase from USD2.7 billion in May 2018.
On a cumulative basis, personal remittances for the period January-May 2019 increased by 4.1 percent to reach USD13.7 billion from last years’ level of USD13.2 billion, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said in a statement on Monday.
The steady growth in personal remittances during the first five months of 2019 drew support from the remittance inflows from land-based OF workers with work contracts of one year or more, which aggregated to USD10.5 billion from USD10.2 billion in the same period last year.
Inflows from the compensation of sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts also contributed to this growth and totaled USD2.9 billion from USD2.7 billion a year ago.
Likewise, cash remittances from OFs coursed through banks rose to USD2.6 billion in May 2019, a 5.7 percent increase, from USD2.5 billion in the same period a year ago. This brought cash remittances for the period January-May 2019 to reach USD12.3 billion, 4.5 percent higher than the USD11.8 billion recorded in the same period last year.
In particular, cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers increased by 3.2 percent at USD9.7 billion and 9.2 percent at USD2.7 billion, respectively, during the first five months of 2019.
By country source, the US registered the highest share of overall remittances for January to May 2019 at 36 percent. It was followed by Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, the UK, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Qatar, and Kuwait. The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78 percent of total cash remittances from January to May 2019.
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