Money sent home by migrant Filipinos rose 2.6% in March from a year earlier, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Thursday, though this was the slowest growth in nine months.
Cash remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFW) coursed through banks hit $2.81 billion (P156.8 billion) from $2.74 billion a year ago.
Remittances from landbased workers increased 3.1% to $2.22 billion, while money sent home by seabased workers inched up 1% to $595 million.
In the first quarter, cash remittances rose 2.7% to $8.44 billion from a year earlier. Money sent home by land-based workers jumped by 3.2% to $6.74 billion, while sea-based workers’ remittances went up 1% to $1.7 billion.
“The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the main driver of the overall increase in remittances for January to March,” the BSP said.
The US was the top remittance source in the first quarter, accounting for 40.7% of the total. It was followed by Singapore (7.6%), Saudi Arabia (6.2%), Japan (4.9%), the UAE (4.6%), UK (4.4%), Canada (3.1%), Qatar (2.8%), Taiwan (2.8%) and Hong Kong (2.7%).
“Cash remittances rose in March and the first quarter largely due to sustained demand for Filipino labor abroad, particularly in healthcare, engineering and domestic services,” John Paolo R. Rivera, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said in a Viber message.
He also cited seasonal factors such as the Lenten break and school-related expenses, which might have driven remittances during the quarter.
Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the continued single-digit growth in remittances is a “bright spot for the overall economy, as an important growth driver, especially in terms of consumer spending.”
