Bank-transferred cash remittances sent by Overseas Filipinos increased to $31.113 billion as of the end of November 2024, up three percent compared to $30.211 billion same period in 2023.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data released on Wednesday, Jan. 15, showed that for the month of November, cash remittances rose 3.3 percent to $2.808 billion from $2.719 billion of the previous year.
The BSP forecasts cash remittances will grow by three percent to $34.5 billion for the full-year 2024.
Cash remittances grew due to higher fund transfers from the US, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.
The US accounted for the biggest share of overall cash remittances with 40.9 percent followed by Singapore with 7.1 percent and Saudi Arabia with 6.3 percent. Overseas Filipinos in Japan also contributed five percent to the overall remittances during the period, while those in the United Kingdom and UAE accounted for 4.7 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.
The US normally appears as the top country source of remittances because of a common practice of remittance centers to course remittances through correspondent banks based in the US.
For the first 11 months of 2024, cash remittances by land-based workers went up by 3.4 percent to $24.84 billion from $24.02 billion in 2023. Sea-based workers remitted $6.27 billion, up by 1.4 percent compared to $6.19 billion in the previous year.
The BSP said the cumulative personal remittances also increased to $34.608 billion during the period, up by three percent from $33.585 billion in 2023.
Personal remittances are computed as the sum of an overseas Filipino’s net compensation and includes personal transfers and capital transfers between households.
For the month of November only, personal remittances rose by 3.5 percent to $3.121 billion compared to the previous year’s $3.017 billion.
For the 11-month period, personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more amounted to $26.89 billion, up by 3.2 percent from $26.05 billion same time in 2023. Sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year rose 2.2 percent to $6.92 billion from $6.78 billion.
The BSP makes projections for annual remittances in terms of cash remittances which are the total value of private income transfers sent back by Filipino overseas workers. It is a subset of personal remittances. Both are sent through formal channels such as banks and money transfer operators and informal networks including relatives, friends and co-workers.
For 2025, the BSP forecasts cash remittances will grow by three percent to $35.5 billion.