Overseas Pinoys’ remittances post double-digit growth in May

By TED CORDERO, GMA News Remittances from overseas Filipinos (OFs) saw a double-digit growth in May as the global economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed Tuesday. Central bank data showed cash remittances—money transfers coursed through banks—rose by 13.1% to $2.382 billion from $2.106 billion in the same month in 2020. “This was due to the 16.2% and 2.7% increase in receipts from land-based workers (to $1.84 billion from $1.631 billion) and sea-based workers (to $488 million from $475 million), respectively,” the BSP said. Year-to-date, cash remittances grew 6.3% to $12.28 billion from $11.554 billion year-on-year. “The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, and Canada contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January to May 2021,” the central bank said. The United States accounted for the lion’s share of overall remittances with 40.1%, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, South Korea, Qatar, and Taiwan. The combined remittances from the said countries accounted for 78.3% of the total cash remittances during the period. Meanwhile, personal remittances —the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels—climbed by 13.3% to $2.652 billion in May from $2.341 billon a year earlier. January to May personal remittances stood at $13.68 billion, up 6.6% from $12.835 billion in the same comparable period in 2020. “In particular, personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more rose by 16.2% to $2.056 billion during the month of May from the $1.77 billion in May 2020,” the BSP said, “Remittances from sea-based workers and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year also increased by 2.7% to $532 million from $519 million a year ago,” it said. — BM, GMA News

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