Cash remittances from OFWs up 13% in May year-to-year and for the fourth straight month this year

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), cash remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rose 13% to $2.382 billion in May from $2.106 billion compared to the same month last year and for the fourth straight month this year.

From January to May, cash remittances totaled $12.28 billion up 6.3% from $11.554 billion in 2020.

Growth in cash remittances came largely from the US, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, and Canada—the US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 40.1% followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, UK, United Arab Emirates, Canada, South Korea, Qatar, and Taiwan.

Personal remittances, meanwhile, rose 13.3% to $2.652 billion in May from $2.341 billion in 2020.

Cumulative personal remittance for the first 5 months of the year rose 6.6% to $13.7 billion year-on-year from $12.835 billion.

Overall, remittances declined in 2020 due to the pandemic but the decrease, however, was not as bleak as the forecasts made by economists and the government.

SOURCE: ABS-CBN, Business World