Overseas Filipinos remitted $28.43 billion through the banking sector as of end-November 2021, up by 5.2 percent compared to same period in 2020 of $27 billion.
Based on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data, cash remittances which are via banks, amounted to $2.50 billion in November, higher by 5.1 percent from $2.38 billion same time in 2020.
The BSP on Friday, Jan. 14, said cash remittances from land-based workers increased by 6.3 percent in November to $1.97 billion from $1.85 billion last year, while remittances from sea-based workers went up by 1.2 percent to $534 million from $527 million.
For the 11-month period, the central bank said bulk of cash remittances came from the US, Taiwan, and Malaysia.
“In terms of country sources, the US posted the highest share of overall remittances at 40.7 percent in the first eleven months of 2021, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar, and South Korea,” said the BSP.
The 10 countries accounted for 78.9 percent of total cash remittances as of end-November 2021.
The BSP said total personal remittances for the month of November only grew by 4.8 percent to $2.77 billion from $2.64 billion same time in 2020.
Cumulative, personal remittances increased by 5.3 percent year-on-year to $31.59 billion versus $29.99 billion same period in 2020.
Personal remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more increased by 6.3 percent to $2.14 billion in November from $2.01 billion in 2020. Sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year, meantime, remitted $581 million, up by one percent from $575 million in 2020.
The difference between cash and personal remittances, as recorded by the BSP, is that the former are remittances coursed through the banks while the latter is the sum of net compensation of employees, personal transfers and capital transfers
between households.
The BSP had projected that cash remittances will grow by six percent for 2021. For 2022, cash remittances are expected to increase by four percent.