Photo File from THEPHILBIZNEWS
The influx of US dollars being sent home by millions of our Overseas Filipino Workers from both sea- and land-based Filipino workers continue, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said personal remittances from overseas Filipinos reached $2.7 billion in July 2018, higher by 4.5 percent compared to the level posted in the same month in 2017.
The total volume of personal remittances grew by 3 percent year-on-year to $18.5 billion in January to July, BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said.
As per Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) there are an estimated 10 million documented Filipinos working or residing overseas and the dollars they send to beneficiaries to the Philippines make up a key contribution to the local economy. With an estimated 10 percent of domestic economic activity is attributed directly or indirectly to these remittances which estimated total of $31.2 billion in 2017 not including the money sent home through informal channels.
The cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks totalled $2.4 billion in July 2018, posting a 5.2-percent increase from the level recorded in the same month last year. While cash remittances sent by land-based workers grew by 4.5 percent to $1.9 billion, while those from sea-based workers expanded by 7.8 percent to $511 million.
By country, the primary contributors to the growth in cash remittances for the month were the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Germany.
The first seven months of 2018, the cash remittances climbed to $16.6 billion, a 3-percent increase from the level registered in the same period in 2017. More than 79 percent of the total cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, Qatar, Canada, Germany and Hong Kong.
As per record that THEPHILBIZNEWS got, the highest remittance that the country received was 28.4 billion of US dollars in 2015 according to the World Bank.