Personal Remittances Reach $2.9 Billion in January 2020

March 20, 2020 – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reveals that personal remittances from overseas Filipinos (OFs) grew by 7.3% year-on-year in January 2020. The number grew from US$2.75 billion in January 2019 to US$2.92 billion in January 2020.

Most of the remittances come from land-based workers whose contracts are one year or more. They contributed US$2.27 billion, up from US$2.12 billion from the same time last year. Sea-based and land-based workers with contracts of less than one year also increased their remittances to US$0.6 billion, up from US$0.58 billion last year.

There was also an increase in cash remittances coursed through banks. The remittances amount to US$2.65 billion in January 2020, up from US2.48 billion in January 2019. The United States still registers the highest share of remittances at 38.9%. The top 10 countries remitting money to the country are as follows:

1. US
2. Japan
3. Singapore
4. Saudi Arabia
5. United Kingdom
6. United Arab Emirates
7. Qatar
8. Canada
9. Hong Kong
10. South Korea

80% of all remittances to the Philippines comes from the countries above.

Just like in previous remittance reports, there might be a discrepancy when it comes to the source of remittances. The reason that the highest remittances are coming from the US may partly be because a lot of remittance centers in various countries will course the remittance through their partner banks in the US.

Personal remittances for the entire 2019 period is US$33 billion, a record high. Cash remittance is also at US$25.6 billion, up from US$24.8 in 2018. Long-term Overseas Filipinos helped in supporting the growth of personal remittances in the country.

This article is published on BitPinas: Personal Remittances Reach $2.9 Billion in January 2020