OFW remittances hit 5-mo low in Nov
Credit to Author: Mayvelin U. Caraballo, TMT| Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 16:19:05 +0000
MONEY sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) fell to their lowest level in five months last November, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed on Wednesday.
In a statement, the central bank said personal remittances — personal transfers, whether in cash or kind, and capital transfers between households — reached $2.63 billion, up 2 percent from $2.58 billion a year earlier and down 11.11 percent from $2.96 billion last October.
The amount was the lowest recorded since last June, when remittances reached $2.54 billion.
The latest figure brought the year-to-date tally to $30.25 billion, a 4.1-percent increase from $29.05 billion in the January-to-November 2018 period.
“The steady growth in personal remittances during the first 11 months of 2019 drew support from the remittance inflows from land-based OF workers with work contracts of one year or more, which grew by 3.6 percent to $23.1 billion from $22.3 billion in the same period last year,” the BSP said.
Also, it added, the combined remittances of sea-based and land-based workers with short-term contracts rose by 7.3 percent to $6.5 billion in the period from $6 billion the year before.
Cash remittances, which only count money coursed through banks, climbed by 2 percent to $2.37 billion last November from $2.32 billion a year earlier. It also grew by 11.19 percent from $2.67 billion last October.
Year to date, cash remittances jumped by 4.4 percent to $27.23 billion from $26.09 billion last year.
By type of worker, cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers increased by 3.6 percent to $21.3 billion and 7.3 percent to $6 billion, respectively.
Remittances from the United States were the highest at 37.7 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany and Qatar.
“The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78.4 percent of total cash remittances during the period,” the Bangko Sentral said.