Remittances from Filipinos working overseas hit a record $31.418 billion in 2021, up 5.1 percent from $29.903 billion in 2020, on sustained demand for skilled workers abroad as most countries reopened despite the continuing global health crisis, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Tuesday.
It also eclipsed the previous record of $30.133 billion registered in 2019 prior to the pandemic.
The 5.1-percent expansion missed the 6-percent growth target earlier set by the government for last year, but it was a significant improvement from the 0.8-percent contraction in 2020 amid the series of lockdowns imposed by countries to prevent the spread of the disease.
Data showed that in December, cash remittances coursed through banks grew by 3.3 percent to $2.987 billion from $2.89 billion in the same month of 2020.
“The growth in the 2021 cash remittances was supported by the increase in receipts from land-based and sea-based workers, which rose by 5.6 percent [to $24.873 billion from $23.55 billion] and 3.0 percent [to $6.545 billion from $6.354 billion], respectively,” the BSP said in a statement.
“Notwithstanding the global pandemic, cash remittances sent by OFs [overseas Filipinos] across various regions remained robust. This was evident in the growth in annual inward remittances from the Americas [7.1 percent], Europe [5.5 percent], Asia [4.5 percent] and the Middle East [0.7 percent],” it said.
By country source, cash remittances from the United States accounted for the largest share of overall remittances at 40.5 percent, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar and South Korea. The combined remittances from these top 10 countries represented 78.9 percent of total cash remittances in 2021.
Likewise, personal remittances, which include non-cash items, reached a new high of $34.884 billion in 2021, surpassing the previous record of $33.467 billion in 2019 and the $33.194 billion recorded in 2020 by 5.1 percent.
The BSP said that in December, personal remittances grew year-on-year by 2.9 percent to $3.298 billion, the highest monthly level since the tracking of personal remittances data series began in 2005.
It said the sustained growth in personal remittances last year was driven by remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, which increased annually by 5.6 percent to $27.005 billion from $25.564 billion, and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year, which went up by 2.9 percent to $7.138 billion from $6.934 billion in 2020.
“The growth in personal remittances reflected a pickup in OFW deployment, strong demand for OFWs amid the reopening of host economies to foreign workers, and the continued shift to digital support that facilitated inward transfer of remittances,” the BSP said.
“The strong inward remittances, in turn, contributed to the increase in domestic demand, with the 2021 level accounting for 8.9 percent and 8.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and gross national income, respectively,” it said.
Remittances slightly declined by 0.8 percent in 2020 to $29.903 billion from $30.133 billion in 2019 as the pandemic impacted the deployment of overseas Filipino workers and many countries implemented stricter quarantine restrictions.
The BSP expects cash remittances to grow by 4 percent in 2022, on the back of the improving global economic outlook.