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Philippines: OFW remittances hit 3-month low in February
MANILA, Philippines — Remittances from overseas Filipino workers rose by only one percent to hit their lowest level in three months, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
The central bank said personal remittances increased by 1.2 percent to hit a three-month low of $2.79 billion in February from $ 2.76 billion in the same month last year.
This was the lowest level for monthly personal remittances since the $2.77 billion recorded in November last year. The growth was also the slowest since the 1.7 percent contraction recorded in January last year.
“The growth in personal remittances in February 2022 was slower, however, compared to that in January at 2.5 percent due in part to the reimposition of restrictions in overseas Filipinos’ host countries and the Philippines amid a resurgence in COVID cases across the globe,” the BSP said.
The National Capital Region (NCR) and nearby provinces were placed under Alert Level 3 in January, as daily COVID cases hit record levels with the emergence of the more contagious Omicron variant.
The central bank said remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more rose by 1.3 percent to $2.18 billion in February from $2.15 billion in the same month last year, while the amount of money sent by sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year grew at a slightly faster rate of 1.5 percent to $547 million from $538 million.
Likewise, the BSP said cash remittances coursed through banks went up by 1.3 percent to hit a three-month low of $2.51 billion in February from $2.47 billion in the same month last year. This was the lowest since the $2.5 billion recorded in November last year.
According to the central bank, the expansion in cash remittances was due to the 1.2 percent increase in receipts from land-based workers to $2 billion from $1.98 billion, as well as the 1.6 percent rise in the amount of money sent by sea-based workers to $501 million from $493 million.
For the first two months, the BSP said personal remittances went up by 1.9 percent to $5.76 billion from $5.65 billion in the same period last year.
Likewise, cash remittances also increased by 1.9 percent to $5.18 billion from $5.08 billion.
“The growth in cash remittances from the US, Japan and Singapore contributed largely to the increase in remittances in the first two months of 2022,” the BSP said.
In terms of country sources, the US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 41.6 percent in January and February this year, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar and Malaysia.
The combined remittances from the top 10 countries accounted for 79.3 percent of total cash remittances in the first two months of the year.
Last year, personal and cash remittances grew by 5.1 percent to record highs of $34.88 billion and $31.42 billion, respectively.
For this year, the BSP sees remittances increasing by four percent after missing the six percent growth target last year.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2022/04/19/2175058/ofw-remittances-hit-3-month-low-february