MONEY sent home by migrant Filipino workers in June rose 4.8 percent to $2.334 billion from $2.227 billion a year ago, as the demand for local skilled workers abroad remained steady, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Monday.
The June expansion was faster than the 1.9-percent year-on-year growth in May. The figure brought cash remittances in the first half to $13.192 billion, up 3.2 percent from $12.782 billion a year ago.
“In particular, cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers summed up to $10.4 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively,” Bangko Sentral said in a statement.
About 80 percent of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, Qatar, Kuwait, Hong Kong, and Germany.
Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also expanded by 4.8 percent in June to $2.575 billion from $2.458 billion a year ago. This brought the total in the first half to $14.569 billion, up 3.1 percent from $14.132 billion in the same period last year.
Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showed that the number of workers deployed in the first half reached 223,116 for land-based and 93,600 for sea-based.
“The number of deployed land-based [new hires] workers increased by 0.9 percent year-on-year, while that of sea-based workers declined by 55.6 percent compared to the year-ago level,” the Bangko Sentral said.
Reports also showed that processed contracts for land-based workers in the first half were largely for services and sales, elementary occupations (such as those working in the agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, construction, manufacturing, and transport sectors), and craft and related trades.
The top country destinations were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The Bangko Sentral said the steady inflows of remittances was supported by the efficient network of bank and non-bank remittance channels established worldwide to cater to the various needs of overseas workers.
As of end-June 2016, commercial banks’ established tie-ups, remittance centers, correspondent banks, and branches or representative offices abroad reached 5,228.
Earlier, Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo expressed optimism on the growth prospects of remittances this year despite the derisking efforts of financial institutions abroad.
He said the derisking was heightened by anti-money laundering concerns, counter-terrorism and cybercrimes. Guinigundo, however, said derisking had already been occurring even before the $81-million money laundering scam that broke out in the country in February this year.
Guinigundo said the sustained growth of the business process outsourcing industry served as a counterweight to the any weakness in remittances.
Cash remittances in 2016 grew 4.6 percent to a record-high $25.767 billion from $24.628 billion a year ago, surpassing the conservative 4-percent growth projection of the Bangko Sentral.