OFW personal remittances reach $17.9 billion

In August 2015, personal remittances from overseas Filipino workers totalled $2.3 billion, bringing the total personal remittances to $17.9 billion. For the first eight months of 2015, cash remittances registered a growth of 4.1 percent year-on-year to $16.2 billion.

Personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more grew by 4.6 percent during the eight-month period, while those from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year rose by 2.4 percent. The $2.3 billion remittances in August 2015, however, were lower by 0.8 percent compared to the level last year. This was partly due to the depreciation of some currencies against the US dollar, particularly the euro, Canadian dollar, and Japanese yen, which reduced the dollar equivalent of remittances sent from host countries.

Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks amounted to $2 billion in August 2015. For the first eight months of 2015, cash remittances registered a growth of 4.1 percent year-on-year to $16.2 billion. Cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers totalled $12.4 billion and US$3.8 billion, respectively. The bulk of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and Canada.

The steady deployment for overseas Filipino workers continued to provide support to remittance inflows. Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that for the period January-August 2015, total job orders reached 584,816, of which 41.5 percent were processed. These job orders were intended mainly for service, production, and professional, technical and related workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

– From Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas