FOLLOWING a month of contraction and a month of sudden influx, the growth of cash sent by Filipino migrants back home normalized in August, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.
Cash remittances grew 4.6 percent in August this year as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) sent in $2.59 billion in cash back home. This, after remittances had declined for the first time in 2019 in June by 2.9 percent, and then surged to a growth of 7.5 percent in July—the fastest for the year.
The normalization of remittance growth in August followed the expected tick-up of remittances during the “ber” months as the holiday season nears.
The September inflow of remittances pushed the total cash sent by OFWs back home to $19.81 billion in the first eight months of the year. This is 3.9 percent higher than the same January-to-August period which was at $19.06 billion.
According to the BSP, the steady growth in remittances during the first eight months of 2019 drew support from the remittance inflows from land-based OFWs with work contracts of one year or more.
Cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers increased by 2.8 percent to $15.5 billion and 8.2 percent to $4.3 billion, respectively, for the January-to-August period this year.
By country source, the US registered the highest share of overall remittances for January to August at 37 percent.
It was followed by Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany and Kuwait. The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78.4 percent of total cash remittances from January to August this year.
Just last week, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III cited remittances as one of the key factors keeping the Philippines among the “world’s fastest-growing economies.”
Dominguez said strong remittance inflows from Filipino migrant workers, coupled with the additional spending generated by hefty income tax cuts under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN), is expected to keep consumer spending strong and contribute to the country’s gross domestic product.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza