By means of Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson, Reporter
CASH TRANSFERS from abroad FiliPino Workers (OFW) increased by one year annually 3.2% in August, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipisaid nas (BSP).
Central bank data shows remittances grew 3.2% to $2.89 billion from $2.8 billion a year ago.
“The growth in remittances in August 2024 was due to the growth in receipts of agricultural and maritime workers,” the BSP said in a statement.
Remittances sent by land-based workers rose 3.9% year on year to $2.28 billion, while money sent by offshore workers rose 0.7% to $603.216 million.
Month over month, cash transfers fell from $3.08 billion in July.
Personal remittances, including in-kind inflows, rose 3.3% to $3.2 billion in August, compared with $3.1 billion a year earlier.
“The increase in personal remittances in August 2024 was due to higher remittances from agricultural workers with employment contracts of one year or more and maritime and agricultural workers with employment contracts of less than one year,” the central bank said.
Remittances from workers with contracts of one year or more rose 3.7% to $2.47 billion, while money sent home by workers with contracts of less than a year rose 1.4% to $670 million.
PERIOD OF EIGHT MONTHS
In the period January-August cash transfers expanded with 2.9% to $22.22 billion, compared to $21.58 billion a year earlier.
“The growth in remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore mainly contributed to the increase in remittances in January-August 2024,” the BSP said.
The United States accounted for almost half (41.3%) of total US remittances Ffirst eight months. It was followed by Singapore (7%), Saudi Arabia (6.1%), the United Kingdom (4.9%) and Japan (4.8%).
Other sources of remittances included the United Arab Emirates (4.2%), Canada (3.5%), Qatar (2.9%), Taiwan (2.7%) and South Korea (2.6%).
Meanwhile, personal remittances rose 3% to $24.74 billion at the end of August, compared to $24.01 billion a year ago.
Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said the steady growth in remittances is a “good signal” for the economy.
“Philippine remittances from foreign workers have consistently been the fourth largest in the world after India, Mexico and China, worth more than US$40 billion annually – a sign of resilience – and have been a bright spot for the Philippine economy for years . ” he said in a Viber message.
Mr Ricafort noted that the stronger peso in August also contributed to lower monthly remittances.
“For the month of August, the exchange rate of the US dollar against the peso declined mostly at the P56-57 level, compared to the P58 level in July 2024, causing the peso equivalent of OFW remittances to decline slightly and year-on-year growth actually partially increased. in OFW remittances in recent months.”
The peso strengthened to P56.111 per dollar on August 30 from the closing rate of P58.365 on July 31.
Mr. Ricafort said he expects continued single-digit growth in remittances in the coming months, amid the “normalization of household spending on both essential and non-essential items.”
The upcoming festive season is also believed to drive growth in remittances.
“Remittances are expected to increase during the holiday season after increased employee engagement [to the August growth]” said John Paolo R. Rivera, senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.
The central bank expects cash the number of remittances will grow by 3% this year.