Money sent home by Filipinos working overseas in 2018 reached a record $28.943 billion, up 3.1 percent from the $28.06 billion a year ago and surpassing slightly the revised 3-percent growth target for the entire year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.
“Cash remittances in 2018 remained strong amid political uncertainties across the globe. This is evident in Asia, the Americas and Europe, which grew annually by 12.3 percent, 9.7 percent, and 7.7 percent, respectively,” the Bangko Sentral said.
“The growth in these regions made up for the 15.3-percent decrease in remittances from the Middle East, partly due to the continued repatriation program of the government,” BSP said.
The bulk of cash remittances for the year came from the US, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, Qatar, Canada, Germany and Hong Kong. Cash remittances from these countries accounted for almost 79 percent of total cash remittances.
Cash remittances in December rose 3.9 percent to an all-time high of $2.849 billion from $2.741 billion on year.
The growth in cash remittances in December was supported by the transfers from both land-based and sea-based overseas Filipino workers, which grew 2.8 percent and 4.6 percent from last year’s level, respectively.
The countries that contributed most to the increase during the month were the US and Canada.
Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also registered a record high of $32.2 billion in 2018, up 3 percent over the $31.288 billion a year ago.
Personal remittances in December rose 3.6 percent to a record $3.2 billion from $3.046 billion on year.
“The growth in personal remittances during the year was driven by remittance inflows from land-based OFWs with work contracts of one year or more and remittances from both sea-based and land-based OFWs with work contracts of less than one year, which rose annually by 2.8 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively,” the central bank said.