Remittances grew 4.3 percent in August to $2.72 billion from $2.61 billion a year ago, supporting the economic recovery and helping stabilize the country’s balance of payments.
Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed that in the first eight months, cash remittances reached $20.99 billion, or 3.0 percent higher than $20.38 billion registered in the same period last year.
Economists said remittances could peak in the fourth quarter and help temper the depreciation of the peso against the US dollar. The peso closed at a record low of 59 against the greenback Monday.
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman William Co said in an earlier statement overseas Filipino workers had the capability to increase remittances to over $50 billion or P3 trillion in the next few years from $32 billion in 2021.
“The expansion in cash remittances in August 2022 was due to the growth in receipts from land-based and sea-based workers,” the BSP said in a statement.
The BSP said the growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Qatar contributed largely to the increase in remittances in the first eight months.
Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, reached $3.02 billion in August, also up by 4.4 percent from $2.89 billion posted in the same month last year.
This resulted in the cumulative personal remittances rising by 3.0 percent to $23.34 billion in the eight-month period from $22.67 billion a year earlier.
“The increase in personal remittances in August 2022 was due to remittances sent by 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.
Remittances from OFWs were consistently the fourth largest in the world after India, China and Mexico.
The Philippines is among the biggest suppliers of nurses around the world, accounting for at least 20 percent of the total globally. It is also the biggest supplier of seafarers worldwide, accounting for about 20 percent to 25 percent of the total.
The deployment of OFWs has become more diversified over the years to include more countries.
Cash remittances hit a record $31.418 billion in 2021, up 5.1 percent from $29.903 billion in 2020.
The 5.1-percent expansion missed the 6-percent growth target set by the BSP, but it was a significant improvement from the 0.8-percent contraction in 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
Remittances were equivalent to roughly 8 percent to 9 percent of the nominal gross domestic product and represented 32 percent to 37 percent of income from exports of goods and services and 26 percent to 37 percent of gross international reserves.