MONEY sent home by Filipinos abroad rose by 12 months on 12 months 2.3% in March, the slowest growth seen in nearly three years, in line with preliminary Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data.
Money remittances, or money coursed through banks by overseas Filipino employees (OFWs), grew by 2.3% to $2.874 billion in March from $2.81 billion a 12 months ago, the central bank reported on Friday.
This was the smallest increase in two years and nine months or because the 2.2% growth in June 2023.
Month on month, money remittances climbed by 3.2% from $2.786 billion in February.
Land-based OFWs sent home the majority of remittances throughout the month at $2.26 billion, which was up by 2.2% 12 months on 12 months from $2.22 billion.
Sea-based employees accounted for the remaining $610 million remitted in March, 2.5% higher than the $590 million recorded in the identical month last 12 months.
Personal remittances likewise increased by 2.3% to $3.203 billion in the identical month from $3.13 billion a 12 months earlier. These include each money coursed through banks and informal channels in addition to in-kind remittances.
FIRST QUARTER
For the primary quarter, money remittances stood at $8.68 billion, up 2.8% 12 months on 12 months from $8.444 billion.
OFWs in the USA continued to send essentially the most money to the Philippines within the period, accounting for 39.9% of total money remittances.
This was followed by Singapore (7.6%), Saudi Arabia (6.3%), Japan (5%), the United Arab Emirates (4.7%), the UK (4.3%), Canada (3%), Qatar (2.9%), Taiwan (2.9%) and Hong Kong (2.7%).
BSP data showed that $6.93 billion of money sent home in the primary quarter got here from land-based migrant employees. This was 2.8% higher than $6.74 billion in the identical period last 12 months.
Sea-based OFWs’ money remittances also went up by 2.7% to $1.75 billion from $1.7 billion.
Meanwhile, personal remittances amounted to $9.664 billion throughout the period, growing by 2.8% from $9.397 billion previously.
Money remittances made up 7.2% of the country’s gross domestic product in the primary quarter, regular from the year-ago ratio, while personal remittances accounted for 8.2%, edging down from 8.3% previously.
The central bank sees money remittances growing by a slower 3% to $36.7 billion this 12 months from the three.3% annual increase seen in 2025 (to $35.6 billion). — Katherine K. Chan