BSP: Remittances hit six-month low at $2.808 billion in November 2024

Remittances from overseas Filipinos declined to a six-month low in November 2024, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday showed.

Cash remittances or money transfers through banks or formal channels for the month stood at $2.808 billion, lower than the $3.079 billion recorded in October, and the lowest since the $2.583 billion in May 2024.

It is, however, higher than the $2.719 billion recorded in November 2023.

Inflows from land-based overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) accounted for $2.22 billion, while those from sea-based workers were recorded at $0.59 billion.

This brought the year-to-date cash remittances to $31.113 billion, up by 3.0% from $2.719 billion in the same period of 2023, with the central bank projecting a 3.0% growth for the full-year 2024.

"The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in January to November 2024," the BSP said.

The United States was the biggest source of cash remittances for the period with 40.9%, followed by Singapore with 7.1%, Saudi Arabia with 6.3%, Japan with 5.0%, and the United Kingdom with 4.4%.

They were followed by the United Arab Emirates with 4.4%, Canada with 3.5%, Qatar with 2.9%, Taiwan with 2.8%, and South Korea with 2.5%, while others accounted for the remaining 20.0%.

The BSP noted, however, remittances coursed through money couriers cannot disaggregated by actual country source and these are lodged under the country where the main offices are located, which is in the United States in many cases.

Personal remittances or the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels came in at $3.121 billion, also the lowest in six months since the $2.884 billion in May 2024, but higher than the $3.017 billion in November 2023.

Year-to-date personal remittances came in at $34.608 billion, up by 3.0% from the $33.585 billion in the comparable period of 2023, and in line with the full-year projected growth of 3.0%. — VDV, GMA Integrated News