Cash remittances sent by Filipinos working overseas through banks reached $2.72 billion in February 2025, up by 2.7 percent from $2.65 billion registered in February 2024, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Tuesday.
The BSP said that in the first two months, cash remittances rose 2.8 percent to $5.63 billion from $5.48 billion sent from January to February 2024.
The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates led to the increase in remittances in the two-month period, the BSP said.
Personal remittances, which include cash and personal items, also saw a 2.6-percent increase in February 2025, reaching $3.02 billion from $2.95 billion in February last year.
The BSP said the increase was driven by contributions from both land-based and sea-based workers.
The cumulative personal remittances also reached $6.27 billion in January to February 2025, up by 2.7 percent from $6.10 billion seen in January to February 2024.
Data showed that in terms of country sources, the US accounted for the largest share of overall cash remittances in the first two months of 2025, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
Personal remittances reached a record high of $38.34 billion, up by 3 percent from $37.21 billion recorded in 2023.
The full-year 2024 remittances represented 8.3 percent and 7.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national income (GNI), respectively.