CASH sent by Filipino migrant workers grew significantly in October, recovering from the previous month’s dismal expansion.
On Monday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported an 8.7- percent growth in the volume of cash remittances coursed through banks by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Philippines.
This amounts to a value of about $2.747 billion during the month alone— the second-largest monthly remittance total for the year.
Remittance flows are, by history, largely swayed by seasonality as more dollars are sent back home to finance certain needs such as enrollment before midyear and expenses for the holiday season.
The remittance level in October 2018 was larger than the $2.237 billion in the previous month and the $2.275 billion in the previous year. The expansion of 8.7 percent was also a recovery from the 2.3 percent seen in the previous month.
The BSP said the top countries that contributed to the increase for the month were the United States, Canada and Taiwan.
The US is among the top country remittance source as well for the entire 10 months of 2018, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, Qatar, Canada, Germany and Hong Kong.
The countries make up 79 percent of the total cash remittances for the first 10 months of 2018.
Also for January to October, cash remittances from land-based workers hit $18.7 billion, up by 2.8 percent from the previous year, while sea-based remittances hit $5 billion, growing 4.2 percent from the previous year.
This brings the total cash remittances to the country at $23.768 billion for the year, up 3.1 percent from the same January-to-October remittance volume last year.
Several analysts have earlier said remittances are expected to spike toward the end of the year as the holiday season approaches.
This also provides support for the projected strength of the peso by year-end.
Remittances account for about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza