Remittances up 5.1% to $1.77B in May

Filipino domestic helpers line up to send money at a remittance center in the central district of Hong Kong in this 2008 file photo. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Monday, July 16, 2012, that cash remittances from Filipinos based offshore amounted to $1.774 billion in May, up by 5.1 percent from $1.688 billion in the same month last year. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE

MANILA, Philippines—Remittances once more rose in May to $1.77 billion, up 5.1 percent from a year ago, as Filipinos remained one of the top picks of foreign employers who were on a hiring mode, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Monday.

Monetary officials said the sustained increase in remittances would help maintain robust growth in household consumption, a key growth driver of the Philippine economy.

For the first five months, remittances totaled $8.32 billion, an increase of 5.3 percent from $7.9 billion in the same period in 2011.

“The continued stream of remittances emanated from the strong global demand for professional and skilled Filipino workers,” the BSP said in a statement.

Remittances as of end-May were within the central bank’s projection of a growth of 5 to 6 percent for the full year.

The countries that served as the biggest sources of remittances for the first five months were the United States (which accounted for nearly 29 percent of the total), Canada (10.1 percent), Saudi Arabia (7.6 percent), United Arab Emirates (3.9 percent), Japan (3.4 percent), the United Kingdom (3.2 percent) and Singapore (3.1 percent).

Meantime, data from the BSP also showed that non-cash remittances, which include transfers in kind and fixed and financial assets sent by migrant workers to the Philippines, amounted to $943 million from January to May. This was up 7 percent from $878 million in the same period last year.

The BSP said remittances were expected to continue growing in the months ahead given the significant number of job orders in the first half.th of 5 to 6 percent from $20.117 billion in 2011.