MANILA – Personal remittances of overseas Filipinos (OFs) increased by 3.1 percent to USD2.86 billion in April this year from USD2.77 billion recorded the same month last year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday.
Personal remittances cover cash sent through banks and informal channels and also remittances in kind.
"The increase in personal remittances in April 2024 was due to remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year," the central bank reported in a statement on Monday.
Of the personal remittances from OFs, cash remittances coursed through banks reached USD2.56 billion up from the USD2.48 billion recorded a year ago.
The BSP said the expansion was due to growth in receipts from both land- and sea-based workers.
For the first four months of the year, personal remittances grew by 2.8 percent to USD12.01 billion from USD11.68 billion recorded from January to April 2023.
Of the total, cash remittances amounted to USD10.78 billion, a 2.8 percent increase from the USD10.49 billion registered from January to April last year.
"The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first four months of 2024," the BSP said. (PNA)
