Money sent home by Filipinos working overseas climbed 6.9 percent in May to $2.469 billion from $2.31 billion a year ago, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said Monday.
The remittance growth in May, however, was slower than the 12.7-percent expansion registered in April.
“In particular, cash remittances sent by land-based workers [$1.9 billion] and sea-based workers [$0.5 billion] grew by 5.3 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively,” Espenilla said in a statement.
He said of the 6.9-percent growth in May 2018, the United States contributed 2.6 percentage points while the United Kingdom added 1.6 percentage points.
This brought cash remittances in the first five months to $11.822 billion, up 4.2 percent from $11.336 billion in the same period last year.
Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also grew 6.1 percent in May to $2.746 billion from $2.588 billion a year earlier. This was slower than the 12.9-percent expansion in April.
Total personal remittances in the first five months hit $13.172 billion, up 4.4 percent from $12.613 billion in the same period last year.
“Personal remittances during the period was driven by steady inflows from land-based OF workers with work contracts of one year or more, which totaled to $10.2 billion, and compensation of sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts, which reached $2.7 billion,” Espenilla said.
British financial company Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. said remittances were expected to continue to recover in the months ahead after the government lifted the deployment ban to some countries in the Middle East.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier ordered the repatriation of thousands of OFWs from Kuwait where they were allegedly maltreated.
Duterte appealed to OFWs in Kuwait to return to the country after Kuwait expelled the Philippine ambassador for launching rescue missions for Filipinos abused by their employers in the Gulf state.
Remittances reached a record $28.06 billion in 2017, up 4.3 percent from $26.9 billion in 2016. It also exceeded the Bangko Sentral’s conservative 4-percent growth target for the year.
The Bangko Sentral projected a 4-percent growth for remittances in 2018.
