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Phlippines: Remittance inflows slow down in April
Lowest in 15 months as Saudi workers repatriated
MANILA, Philippines – After hitting record monthly levels in March, cash and personal remittances from overseas Filipino workers slipped in April, hitting their lowest levels in 15 months primarily due to the repatriation of workers from Saudi Arabia, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.
BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said personal remittances declined 5.2 percent to $2.32 billion in April from $2.44 billion in the same month last year. The amount was lower than the record monthly level of $2.91 billion booked in March and the lowest since the $2.21 billion registered in January last year.
Despite the drop in April, personal remittances rose 4.7 percent to $10.03 billion from January to April versus the $9.58 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Personal remittances represent the sum of net compensation of employees, personal transfers, and capital transfers between households. It measures the total amount of remittance flows into the country, including cash and non-cash items that flow through both formal or via electronic wire and informal channels such as money or goods carried across borders.
Cash remittances were also down 5.9 percent to $2.08 billion in April from $2.21 billion in the same month last year and from the record monthly level of $2.61 billion last March according to the BSP.
This was the lowest monthly cash remittance since hitting $1.99 billion in January 2016. The decline was also the biggest since the 6.2 percent dropped booked in November 2015.
Data showed cash remittances sent by land-based workers fell 7.6 percent in April, offsetting the marginal 0.3 percent increase in transfers from sea-based workers.
Tetangco said money sent home by Filipinos in Saudi Arabia declined partly as a result of the repatriation of workers under an amnesty program
President Duterte brought home with him 138 overseas Filipino workers who have been stranded in Saudi Arabia during his week-long visit to the Middle East last April.
The outgoing BSP chief also cited the depreciation of currencies in major host countries against the dollar, translating to lower remittances from Singapore, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The BSP also cited the less number of banking days in April due to the Holy Week holidays.
For the first four months cash remittances rose 4.2 percent to $9.04 billion from $8.67 billion in the same month last year.
Major sources of remittances from January to April include the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan, UK, Qatar, Hong Kong, and Canada.
Cash remittances from about 12 million Filipinos living and working abroad contribute about 10 percent of the country’s domestic output as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP).
Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2017/06/16/1710316/remittance-inflows-slow-down-april