MANILA -Personal remittances from overseas Filipino workers increased by 2.2 percent to reach $3.13 billion in June from $3.06 billion in the same month last year amid improving economic data in the United States, a major source of inflows.
The growth of inbound remittances in June was much slower than the 4.4 percent recorded in the same month of 2022, as well as the 2.9 percent recorded a month earlier in May.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas attributed the continued growth in June to increases in money transfers from both land-based and sea-based overseas Filipinos.
The June result brought the total inflows for the first semester of this year to $17.59 billion, an increase of 3 percent from $17.09 billion in January-June 2022.
Six-month growth this year was faster than the 2.8 percent observed for the same period of last year.
Of total remittances, transfers coursed through banks increased by 2.1 percent to $2.81 billion from $2.76 billion. Transfers mostly came from Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Japan.
Cash remittances totaled at $15.79 billion or an increase of 2.9 percent from $15.35 billion.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said cash remittances in June were the highest in six-months and came close to the record high of $3.16 billion in December 2022.
This happened “as the United States Federal Reserve recently signaled reduced odds of recession in the US, which is the world’s largest economy,” Ricafort said.
“For the coming months, single-digit growth in OFW remittances could still continue as OFW dependents still need to cope up with relatively higher prices locally that would require the sending of more (money), as well as some normalization of spending by households for both essentials and non-essentials,” he added.
Ricafort said that, on the other hand, potential economic slowdown in the US, partly due to aggressive US Fed rate hikes over the past year, would still be a drag for OFW remittances.