MANILA, July 15 (PNA) — Cash remittances that Filipinos abroad sent home in May 2014 continue to surpass the full-year target of five pecent after it went up by 5.4 percent year-on-year to P1.98 billion compared to the P1.87 billion same period in 2013.
Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Tuesday showed that total cash remittances, which passed through banks, in the first five months of the year amounted to P9.37 billion, 5.7 percent higher than year-ago’s P8.9 billion.
Of the total, money sent home by sea-based workers rose by 8.1 percent to USD 2.3 billion while those from land-based workers expanded by five percent to USD 7.1 billion.
Bulk of these inflows came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong.
Relatively, personal remittances, which include the amount of in-kind remittances, amounted to USD 2.2 billion last May, 5.5 percent higher than the USD 2.1 billion same period last year.
Total cash remittances as of end-May 2014 exceeded the USD 10 billion mark after it reached USD 10.4 billion, 6.1 percent higher than the USD 9.81 billion in end-May 2013.
The central bank traced the continued expansion of remittances to the Philippines to strong demand for Filipino workers abroad as well as the increase of tie-ups of domestic banks and remittance service entities to their counterparts overseas.
Citing initial report from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the BSP said approved job orders as of end-May this year reached 371,097 and 38.5 percent of which are for service, production, and professional, technical, and related employment requirements in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Taiwan and Qatar. (PNA)