Remittances jumped to six-month high in June — BSP data

Remittances from overseas Filipinos climbed to a six-month high in June on the back of higher receipts from land and sea-based workers, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday showed.

Cash remittances — money transfers coursed through banks — stood at $2.755 billion in June, 4.4% higher than the $2.638 billion the same month last year.

This compares with the $2.425 billion in May, and is the highest since cash remittances were recorded at $2.987 billion in December 2021.

“The expansion in cash remittances in June 2022 was due to the growth in receipts from land-based and sea-based workers,” the central bank said in an accompanying statement.

This brought the first-half remittance inflows to $15.347 billion, up by 2.9% from $14.918 billion during the comparable period last year.

In terms of sources, the biggest chunk came from the United States with 41.1%, Singapore with 6.9%, and Saudi Arabia with 5.9%.

These were followed by Japan with 5.1%, the United Kingdom with 5.0%, the United Arab Emirates with 3.9%, Canada with 3.4%, the Republic of Korea with 2.8%, Qatar with 2.7%, Taiwan with 2.6%, and others with 20.5%.

Meanwhile, personal remittances — the sum of transfers sent in cash or in-kind via informal channels — grew by 4.4% to $3.064 billion from $2.936 billion in June 2021.

Year-to-date personal remittances stood at $17.086 billion, up by 2.8% from $16.616 billion in the first half of the previous year.

The central bank attributed the growth to higher remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than a year. — RSJ, GMA News