Jan-April 2019: Pinoy seamen remit $0.6 billion, up 10.6 percent

OFW remittances hit $10.8B in Jan-April
MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO June 18, 2019 https://www.manilatimes.net/ofw-remittances-hit-10-8b-in-jan-april/571040/

MONEY sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reached $10.811 billion in the first four months of 2019, a 3.7-percent increase from $10.426 billion in the same period last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Monday.

For April alone, personal remittances totaled $2.713 billion, up 3.7 percent from $2.616 billion in the same month in 2018, but down 2.9 percent from $2.796 billion in March this year.

Such remittances sum up the net compensation of OFWs; personal transfers, cash or otherwise, and capital transfers between households.

“The continued growth in personal remittances during the first four months of 2019 was driven by steady remittance inflows from land-based OF workers with work contracts of one year or more, which aggregated to $8.2 billion from $8.1 billion in the same period last year,” BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said in a statement.

Cash remittances, which only count money coursed through banks, rose by 4 percent to $2.441 billion in April from $2.347 billion a year earlier. It fell by 2.9 percent, however, from $2.514 billion in March.

“This growth was supported by remittances from both land-based ($1.8 billion) and sea-based ($0.6 billion) workers, which rose by 2.2 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively,” Diokno explained.

In a comment, ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa said the cash remittances’ year-on-year growth was achieved despite another month of contraction in remittances from the Middle East, with the streak of negative growth hitting its 16th month.