Remittances hit $12.08B, highest in June

MANILA, Philippines – Cash remittances in June hit their highest level this year on the back of sustained demand for skilled Filipino manpower overseas.

Cash sent home by Filipinos living and working abroad grew by 5.6% in the first half of 2015 to $12.08 billion or $637 million higher compared to $11.45 billion booked in the same period last year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. reported Monday, August 17.

Cash sent home by overseas Filipinos in June grew 6.1% to $2.18 billion from $2.05 billion in the same month last year. It was the highest since December when Filipinos abroad sent home $2.32 billion to their loved ones in the Philippines.
 
Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos hit 5.3 percent ($13.37 billion) in the first half of the year from $12.7 billion in the same period last year.
 
For the month of June alone, personal remittances grew 5.8 percent to $2.41 billion from $2.27 billion in the same month last year.

The World Bank defines personal remittances as the sum of personal transfers and compensation of employees.

Cash remittances went up by 5.9% to $24.35 billion last year from $22.98 billion in 2013, while personal remittances increased by 6.3% to $26.97 billion from $25.37 billion.

Tetangco attributed the increase to the continued remittance inflows from both land-based workers with contracts of at least one year, as well as sea-based and land-based workers with short-term contracts.

Tetangco also cited the banks’ efforts to cope with the increasing remittance flows.

As of end-June, the number of commercial banks’ established tie-ups, remittance centers, correspondent banks as well as branches and representative offices grew 18.5% to 5,541 from 4,675.

Sources

Major sources of cash remittances from January to June 2015 were the US, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and Canada.

Job orders reached 454,263 and more than a third were intended for service, production as well as professional, technical, and related workers in Saudi Atabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan, and UAE, statistics from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed.

The Philippines is the third leading recipient of remittances in the world after India and China. About 12 million Filipinos work abroad. – Rappler.com