OFW cash remittances rebound to hit $2.31B in May

MANILA, Philippines – After hitting a 15-month low in April, remittances coursed through banks by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rebounded in May.

Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday, July 17, showed that cash remittances for May totaled $2.31 billion, a 5.5% increase from the level posted in the same month a year ago.

Of that total, remittances from land-based employees accounted for $1.8 billion while remittances from sea-based workers accounted for half a billion dollars with each growing by 6.2% and 3.0%, respectively.

The primary contributors to the growth in cash remittances for May were the United Arab Emirates with a 1.5-percentage-point contribution to growth, Canada and Saudi Arabia each contributing 1.1 percentage points, and the United States with 0.8 percentage points.

May’s result brings the total cash remittances seen so far in 2017 to $11.346 billion, up 4.5% from the January to May period last year.

At the same time, personal remittances from OFWs totaled $2.588 billion in May, representing an increase of 7.1% from the same month last year.

Total personal remittances for the first 5 months of 2017 stand at $12.613 billion, up 5.2% compared to the same period last year. – Rappler.com