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Philippines: OFW remittances continue to climb in January
MANILA, Philippines — Dollars sent home by expatriate Filipinos continued to rise for 12 straight months, growing by 2.5 percent in January, amid the redeployment of more overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) as host countries reopen their borders from strict COVID lockdown measures, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Personal remittances from Filipinos abroad reached $2.97 billion in January, $71 million higher than the $2.89 billion recorded in the same period last year.
The amount, however, was lower than the record high $3.3 billion posted in December last year.
The BSP attributed the rise to the 2.9 percent increase in personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more to $2.28 billion from $2.22 billion, as well as the 1.2 percent growth from sea and land-based workers with contracts of less than one year to $617 million from $609 million.
Likewise, data showed cash remittances coursed through banks went up by 2.5 percent to $2.67 billion from $2.6 billion. This was lower than the all-time high of $2.99 billion recorded in December.
“The growth in cash remittances from the US, Japan, and Singapore contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January,” the BSP said.
According to the BSP, cash remittances from land-based OFWs grew by 2.9 percent to $2.1 billion in January from $2.04 billion in the same month last year, while that of sea-based workers rose by 1.2 percent to $565 million from $558 million.
The US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 41.2 percent, followed by Singapore, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar and Malaysia.
The combined remittances from these top 10 countries accounted for 79.6 percent of total cash remittances during the period.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said OFW remittances could improve further in the coming months as the global economic recovery would still improve further as more countries, especially those that host large numbers of Filipino expats would reach herd immunity in the coming months.
“The further reopening and recovery of many economies worldwide toward greater normalcy especially OFW host countries and developed countries that move closer to herd immunity fundamentally led to more OFW jobs created, thereby also supporting the recent growth in remittances,” Ricafort said.
Ricafort said the continued year-on-year growth in OFW remittances has been somewhat defying the pandemic, as some Filipino expats are economic and medical frontliners as well as essential workers in various host countries.
However, a risk factor is the recent surge in new COVID cases in some host countries for OFWs, leading to some restrictions in travel and the Russia-Ukraine war that could slow down global economic growth prospects.
OFW remittances from Russia jumped by 24.4 percent to $292,000 in January, while that from Ukraine plunged by 37.2 percent to $14,000.
Personal and cash remittances grew by 5.1 percent last year to a all-time high of $34.88 billion and $31.42 billion, respectively.
For 2022, the BSP sees remittances increasing by four percent after missing the six percent growth target last year.
OFW families continue to benefit from the weakening peso as the local currency breached the 52 to $1 level due to the hawkish US Federal Reserve as well as higher demand for dollars to pay of increasing imports particularly the more expensive oil.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2022/03/17/2167872/ofw-remittances-continue-climb-january