CASH sent by Filipino migrant workers grew at a slower pace in October this year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Wednesday.
Data from the Central Bank showed that cash remittances that coursed through banks increased by 2.4 percent to hit $2.8 billion in October this year from $2.747 billion registered in the same month in 2020.
The 2.4-percent growth is slower than the 5.2-percent expansion seen in September this year. It is also below the 5.3-percent average growth of remittances for the first 10 months of the year.
Despite the slower growth, the month’s remittance flow brought the 10-month total remittances to $25.93 billion for the year. This is higher than the $24.63 billion 10-month remittance total in 2020. The BSP traced the expansion in cash remittances to the increase in receipts from land-based and sea-based workers, which rose by 2.8 percent to $2.247 billion from $2.186 billion and 0.6 percent to $565 million from $561 million, respectively.
The Central Bank also said the growth in cash remittances from the United States, Taiwan, and Malaysia contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January to October 2021.
Meanwhile, in terms of country sources, the US posted the highest share of overall remittances at 40.9 percent in the first 10 months of 2021, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar, and South Korea. The combined remittances from these top 10 countries accounted for 79.0 percent of total cash remittances during the period.
Last month, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort said the growth in remittances in October reflected high base effects from last year’s remittance flows.
“OFW remittances could improve further in the coming months that support the country’s economic recovery prospects from Covid-19, as the global economic recovery would still improve further as more countries, especially those that host large numbers of OFWs,” Ricafort said.