FILIPINO migrant workers continued to send home more money in May this year, sustaining the rise of total remittances in the country in recent months.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno told reporters on Tuesday that overseas Filipino workers’ (OFW) remittances hit $2.38 billion in May this year, rising by 13.1 percent from the same level in 2020.
This is the second consecutive month that remittances from Filipino migrant workers grew at a double-digit pace this year. In April, remittances from OFWs hit $2.3 billion, up 12.7 percent from its level in the previous month.
Broken down, the increase in receipts from land-based workers was at 16.2 percent to $1.89 billion during the month. Sea-based workers’ remittances, meanwhile, grew 2.7 percent from its year-ago level to hit $488 million.
The strong remittance performance of the country in May pushed the five-month total to $12.28 billion, up 6.3 percent from its year-ago level of $11.55 billion.
The BSP said the growth in cash remittances from the United States, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and Canada contributed largely to the increase in remittances in the first five months of the year.
In terms of country sources, the US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 40.1 percent, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Canada, South Korea, Qatar and Taiwan.
The combined remittances from these 10 countries accounted for 78.2 percent of total cash remittances during the period.
Economists had earlier projected that cash remittances to the country will continue to grow in the coming months as economies around the world reopen and start to normalize.
Projected growth in remittances is also likely due to the low base in 2020 as well as higher needs of Filipino families in recent months, especially during the renewed lockdowns earlier this year.
Image credits: Bernard Testa