Cash remittances from Filipinos working overseas declined by 4.1 percent in August to $2.483 billion from $2.589 billion in the same month last year after the government placed Metro Manila and other areas under the moderate enhanced community quarantine status.
Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas also showed that in the first eight months, cash remittances coursed through banks went down by 2.6 percent to $19.285 billion from $19.808 billion a year ago.
"This was due to the decline in remittances from both land-based and sea-based workers, which fell by 1.9 percent [to $15.183 billion from $15.476 billion] and 5.3 percent [to US$4.101 billion from $4.332 billion], respectively," the BSP said.
Meanwhile, personal remittances, which include cash and other items, also declined 4.2 percent in August to $2.756 from $2.875 billion a year earlier.
This brought the cumulative personal remittances in the eight-month period to $21.414 billion, down by 2.6 percent from $21.995 billion in the comparable period in 2019.
Personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more declined 4.6 percent in August to $2.118 billion from $2.221 billion in the same month last year.
Remittances from sea-based workers and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year fell 2.2 percent in August to $580 million from $593 million.
By country source, remittances from Saudi Arabia, Japan and the UAE posted declines in August. These were partly offset by observed remittance growth from the United States, Singapore and Malaysia.