Money sent home by Filipinos working overseas grew 2.5 percent in January to $2.668 billion from $2.603 billion a year ago, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show.
The January figure, however, was lower than the record $2.987 billion received in December 2021.
The BSP in a statement attributed the expansion of cash remittances to the increase in receipts from land-based and sea-based workers, which rose 2.9 percent to $2.103 billion from $2.044 billion, and 1.2 percent to $565 million from $558 million, respectively.
“The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Japan and Singapore contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January 2022,” the BSP said.
The US remained the largest source of remittances, accounting for 41.2 percent of the total in January, followed by Singapore, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar and Malaysia. The combined remittances from these top 10 countries accounted for 79.6 percent of the total.
Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also grew 2.5 percent to $2.966 billion in January from $2.895 billion a year ago.
“The increase in personal remittances in January was due to remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, which grew by 2.9 percent to $2.283 billion from $2.219 billion in the same month last year, and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year, which increased by 1.2 percent to $617 million from $609 million a year ago,” the BSP said.
Michael Ricafort, chief economist of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said cash remittances in January seasonally slowed down after posting a record high of $2.987 billion in December.
Ricafort said remittances were “also offset by the weaker peso exchange rate in recent months that could have somewhat reduced remittances sent to pay for the same amount of spending/expenses in pesos in the country.”
“Furthermore, improved global economic recovery prospects somewhat mitigated by some soft patch in January 2022 after the spike in new COVID-19 cases during the holiday gatherings in some host countries that led to some restrictions,” he said.
Ricafort said the Russia-Ukraine war since Feb. 24 was expected to slow down global economic recovery prospects after the increase in the prices of oil and other commodities that could lead to higher inflation and could effectively slow down economic business activities in some host countries.
“OFW remittances from Russia could also be disrupted/reduced in view of increased sanctions on Russia, including not allowing the sending of foreign currencies abroad and also the depreciation in the Russian ruble that reduces the US dollar value of OFW remittances sent to the Philippines,” Ricafort said.
Cash remittances 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.