OFW remittances up 5.2% to $24.34B in first 11 months of 2016

Ahead of the holidays, cash sent home by Filipinos working and living abroad through banks jumped by almost a fifth to $2.22 billion in November last year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data released Monday showed.

The 18.5-percent growth in cash remittances from $1.87 billion in November 2015 was the fastest since July 2008’s 24.6-percent year-on-year increase.

The amount of cash remittances was also higher than October’s $2.1 billion.

In a statement, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the top five sources of remittances a month before Christmas celebrations were Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

At the end of the first 11 months, cash remittances reached $24.34 billion, up 5.2 percent from $23.14 billion during the same 11-month period in 2015.

“Cumulative cash remittances from land-based workers rose by $1.4 billion, compensating for the $200-million decrease in sea-based workers’ remittances amid stiffer competition in the supply of seafarers, particularly from East Asia and Eastern Europe,” Tetangco said.

“The improving global economic conditions, particularly in the United States, may have contributed to the overall growth in remittances,” Tetangco added.

According to Tetangco, more than four-fifths of total cash remittances in the first 11 months came from Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the US.

The BSP had projected cash remittances to grow 4 percent year-on-year and reach $26.6 billion by end-2016.

In 2017, the BSPs projection is another 4-percent growth to $27.7 billion.

In October last year, the World Bank projected that weak global growth would slow remittances to developing countries like the Philippines, with inflows from Filipinos abroad expected to increase at the slowest pace in 10 years.

In a report titled “Trends in Remittances, 2016: A New Normal of Slow Growth,” the World Bank said that across low- and middle-income countries, remittance flows were expected to total $442 billion in 2016, a mere 0.8-percent higher than last year’s $438.6 billion. —BEN O. DE VERA