Remittances up 4.5% in July —BSP

Personal remittances posted a 4.5-percent year-on-year growth in July, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday showed.

According to data released by the central bank, personal remittances or the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels rose by 4.5 percent to $2.675 billion from $2.559 billion in July last year.

This compares with $2.615 billion in June this year, the lowest in seven months since registering $2.526 billion in November 2017.

Cash remittances or money transfers coursed through banks grew by 5.2 percent to $2.401 billion from $2.283 billion.

“Cash remittances sent by land-based workers grew by 4.5 percent to $1.9 billion, while those from sea-based workers expanded by 7.8 percent to $511 million,” the BSP said.

“By country source, the primary contributors to the growth in cash remittances for the month were the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Germany,” it said.

In the seven months to July, personal remittances grew by 3.0 percent to $18.462 billion while cash remittances rose by 3.0 percent to $16.580 billion.

“The rise in personal remittances during the first seven months of 2018 was supported by an increase of 2.8 percent and 4.0 percent in remittance inflows from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts, respectively,” the central bank said.

In terms of cash remittances, the bulk or 79 percent came from the US, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan, UK, Qatar, Canada, Germany, and Hong Kong. —VDS, GMA News