Money sent home by Filipinos working overseas in April rose 12.7 percent to $2.347 billion from $2.083 billion a year ago, the fastest in 17 months and a turnaround from the 9.8-percent decline a month ago, data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Monday show.
Remittances sent by land-based workers worth $1.8 billion and sea-based workers amounting to $0.5 billion increased 15.1 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, compared to the levels posted a year ago.
The primary contributors to the growth in remittances during the month were the United States with 4.2 percentage points to the 12.7 percent aggregated growth, Canada (1.9 percent) and Singapore (1 percent).
The April figure brought cash remittances in the first four months to $9.4 billion, up 3.5 percent year-on-year. The bulk of remittances during the period came from the US, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Qatar, and Kuwait.
The combined remittances from these countries accounted for almost 80 percent of total cash remittances.
Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also recovered and posted a strong 12.9-percent growth, the fastest in 17 months, to $2.616 billion from $2.317 billion on the year. The figure brought the first four months figure to $10.426 billion, up 4 percent from $10.026 billion on the year.
“The continued growth in personal remittances during the first four months was driven by steady inflows from land-based OFWs with work contracts of one year or more, which aggregated to $8.1 billion, and compensation of sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts, which reached $2.1 billion,” Bangko Sentral said.
Earlier, ING Bank Manila senior economist Joey Cuyegkeng said remittances were seen to recover in April from a 9.8-percent decline in March after banks closed for a few days due to the Holy Week holiday break.
In a report, Cuyegkeng said remittances across major regions were down year-on-year in March. Remittances from Asia, Oceania, Americas, Europe and the Middle East declined by 3 percent, 19 percent, 2.3 percent, 9.4 percent, and 23.1 percent, respectively.
The central bank pointed to fewer banking days due to the Holy Week commemoration, base effects, and the continued repatriation of overseas Filipinos from Kuwait.
“This implies that April should show a good rebound… We expect remittances to exhibit some resilience in April,” Cuyegkeng earlier said.
Remittances in March 2018 declined 9.8 percent, the biggest drop in 15 years since the 10.9-percent fall in April 2003, due to base effects and the repatriation of overseas workers from the Middle East countries, especially Kuwait.