OFW remittances up 6.9% in March

MANILA, Philippines – Remittances from overseas Filipinos rose by 6.9% in March 2014, 6% higher than in February, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas announced on Thursday, May 15.

The BSP said in a statement that the March remittances brought the total amount of personal remittances to $6.1 billion in the first quarter of 2014, 6.6% higher than in 2013.

“The steady increase in personal remittances during the first 3 months of the year was driven by strong growth in remittance flows from both land-based workers with long-term contracts (4.5%) and sea-based and land-based workers with short-term contracts (10.9%),” the BSP said.

Cash remittances coursed through banks increased by 6.5% year-on-year to $1.9 billion in March 2014. The BSP said cash remittances for the first quarter of 2014 rose to $5.5 billion, 6% higher than that of last year.

Cash remittances from both land-based and sea-based workers grew by 4.5% ($4.1 billion) and 10.9% ($1.4 billion) respectively in the first quarter of 2014.

The main sources of cash remittances were the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Singapore, and Hong Kong. – Rappler.com