By Darwin G. Amojelar
Filipinos working abroad sent more money back home in April 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The BSP said cash remittances coursed through banks reached $2.56 billion in April 2024, up from $2.48 billion posted a year ago. The figure, however, was down from $2.74 billion in March.
“The expansion in cash remittances in April 2024 was due to growth in receipts from both land- and sea-based workers,” the BSP said in a statement.
It said that in the first four months, total cash remittances amounted to $10.78 billion, a 2.8-percent increase from $10.49 billion registered in the same period last year.
The BSP said the growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia and Singapore contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the four-month period.
Meanwhile, personal remittances which include non-cash items sent through other channels rose 3.1 percent to $2.86 billion in April from $2.77 billion a year earlier.
“The increase in personal remittances in April 2024 was due to remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year,” the BSP said.
It said total personal remittances rose 2.8 percent to $12.01 billion from January to April from $11.68 billion in the same period last year.
The US had the highest share of overall remittances during the four-month period, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said remittances could sustain their single-digit/modest growth in the coming months, as OFW families need to cope up with relatively higher prices locally that would require the sending of more remittances.
Ricafort said, however, the recession in the US and other countries that host a large number of OFWs partly due to aggressive Fed rate hikes since March 2022 would still be a drag on OFW remittances especially if there would be job losses for some OFWs.
“Nevertheless, the continued and consistent growth in OFW remittances could be attributed to higher prices/inflation locally that required the sending of more OFW remittances back to the country,” he said.
