OFW cash remittances hit $2.169B in February

MANILA, Philippines – Cash remittances coursed through banks by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) maintained their momentum, totaling $2.169 billion in February 2017 based on preliminary data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday, April 17.

February’s figure is 3.4% higher than the level posted in the same month in 2016, and similar to the January 2017 level.

Total cash remittances for the first two months of 2017 stand at $4.338 billion, up by 5.9% compared to the same period last year.

The majority or $1.7 billion of the total was sent by land-based workers, while less than a quarter or $500 million was sent by sea-based workers.

The United States, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan were the major contributors to the growth in cash remittances in February.

The BSP also noted 12.8% growth in remittances from the US, which contributed 3.9 percentage points to the overall growth in cash remittances.

Personal remittances by OFWs also rose by 3.3% year-on-year to top out at $2.4 billion for February.

This resulted in a total of $4.8 billion in remittance inflows for the first two months of 2017, also representing a 5.9% growth from the 2016 level. – Rappler.com