Cash remittances up 3.4% to $2.169B in February

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reports  that remittances  increased in February. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Cash sent home by Filipinos overseas through banks stayed at the $2-billion level for the 13th straight month in February even as year-on-year growth slowed on seasonality.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data released Monday showed that cash remittances reached $2.169 billion last February, the same amount as in January.

The February figure was up 3.4 percent from $2.098 billion a year ago, although year-on-year growth was slower than last year’s 8.4 percent and the previous month’s 8.6 percent.

Monthly cash remittances remained above $2 billion since February last year.

In a statement, the BSP said over three-fourths or $1.7 billion of the cash remittances sent home in February came from land-based employees, while the remaining $500 million were from sea-based workers.

The top six contributors to cash remittance growth last February were Japan (up 11.3 percent year-on-year), Qatar (up 53.5 percent), Singapore (up 17.5 percent), Taiwan (up 64.4 percent), the United Arab Emirates (up 23.7 percent) and the United States (up 12.8 percent).

But the BSP said remittances from Canada, China, Hong Kong and Kuwait posted declines in February.

End-February cash remittances amounted $4.338 billion, 5.9-percent higher than the $4.095 billion during the first two months of last year.

During the first two months, “cash remittances from land-based workers rose by 9.1 percent to $3.5 billion, compensating for the decrease by 5 percent to $900 million in sea-based workers’ transfers,” the BSP said.

Nearly four-fifths of the cash remittances that reached the Philippines during the two-month period came from Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UAE, the United Kingdom and the US.

For 2017, the BSP had projected a 4-percent growth in remittances.

In 2016, cash remittances totaled a record $26.9 billion, up 5 percent from $25.607 billion in 2015.

Remittances are the largest source of foreign exchange income for the country, helping insulate the domestic economy from external shocks by ensuring the steady supply of dollars into the system.

These cash transfers are also a major driver for domestic consumption, which contributes to robust economic growth./ac