Money sent home by Filipinos working overseas rose 4.3 percent in 2017 to hit a record $28.06 billion from $26.90 billion in 2016 and exceeded the government’s 4-percent growth target, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said Thursday.
“Notwithstanding pockets of political uncertainties across the globe, cash remittances in 2017 remained resilient,” Espenilla said in a statement.
“The higher cash remittances in 2017 was supported by the increase in transfers from both land-based and sea-based workers by 4 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively,” he said.
Data showed that in December alone, cash remittances climbed 7.1 percent to $2.741 billion from $2.559 billion a year ago. The countries that contributed to the increase in cash remittances in December were the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
The Bangko Sentral said for the whole year, remittances from the Middle East increased 3.4 percent, driven by growth in remittances from the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain. Remittances from Asia grew 7.3 percent, boosted by transfers from Singapore, Japan and Taiwan.
For the Americas, which increased 5.8 percent, the major contributor was the 5.5-percent growth in remittances from the US. Despite the decrease in remittances from the United Kingdom due to the depreciation of the pound against the dollar, remittances from Europe still went up by 1.5 percent.
Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also jumped to a record-high of $31.288 billion in 2017, up 5.3 percent from $29.706 billion in 2016. In December alone, personal remittances went up 7.9 percent to $3.046 billion from $2.823 billion a year ago.
“The sustained growth in personal remittances during the year was steered by the increase in remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more [by 4.1 percent] and from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year [by 5.3 percent],” the Bangko Sentral said.
It said the growth in remittances continued to provide support to the country’s economy as a major driver of domestic demand.
The 2017 level of personal remittances accounted for 10 percent of gross domestic product (which grew by 6.7 percent) and 8.3 percent of gross national income.
Remittances, together with business process outsourcing receipts, account for around $50 billion in annual inflows and have been the steady source of the country’s strong external payments position.
Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo earlier said the bright global growth prospects would augur well for the sustained demand for Filipino workers abroad and eventually the flow of remittances back home.
The International Monetary Fund previously raised the global growth forecast to 3.7 percent from 3.6 percent in 2018.
The Bangko Sentral expects a 4-percent growth for remittances in 2018.