Dollar remittances continued uptrend in Nov 2017, says BSP

Foreign currency remittances of expatriate Filipinos continued to rise in November of last year as both short- and long-term overseas workers sent more money home to their local beneficiaries, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Monday.

In a statement, BSP Gov. Nestor Espenilla Jr. said that remittances for the month of November alone reached $2.5 billion, representing a 3.2-percent increase over the level reported in the same period of 2016.

This brought the cumulative remittances for the first 11 months of 2017 to $28.2 billion, representing a growth rate of 5.1 percent from the previous year.

“The growth in remittances for January to November 2017 was supported by the sustained expansion of remittances from land-based overseas Filipinos with work contracts of one year or more, as well as those from sea- and land-based overseas Filipinos with work contracts of less than one year,” Espenilla said.

Remittances from short-term Filipino expatriate workers rose by 3.7 percent, while those from those with longer-term contracts, whether land- or sea-based, increased by 5.1 percent.

Likewise, cash remittances courses through banks rose by 2 percent during the period to $2.3 billion.

The top countries that contributed to the growth in cash remittances during the month were the US (1.1-percentage point contribution), and Germany (0.9 percentage point).

On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances at the end of November 2017 totaled $25.3 billion. This represents a 4-percent increase from the 2016 level.

Cash remittances from both land- and sea-based workers recorded increments of 3.7 percent and 5.1 percent for the January to November 2017 period, respectively.

According to the BSP, the bulk of cash remittances for the first 11 months of the year came from the US, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany and Hong Kong.

Combined remittances from these countries accounted for 80.2 percent of total foreign currencies sent back by overseas Filipinos to their local beneficiaries. /je