MANILA (XINHUA) – Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos reached USD2.97 billion in March, three per cent higher than the USD2.89 billion recorded in March 2022, the Philippine central bank said yesterday.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) attributed the increased remittances in March to higher remittances sent by land-based and sea-based Filipino workers.
For the first quarter (Q1) of this year, the BSP said the remittances rose by three per cent to USD8.91 billion from USD8.65 billion in Q1 2022. The BSP said the growth in cash remittances from the United States (US), Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in Q1 2023.
Personal remittances remain a significant source of the Southeast Asian country’s foreign exchange inflows. Filipinos overseas send an annual remittance equivalent to about 10 per cent of the Philippine gross domestic product (GDP).
Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos reached an “all-time high” of USD36.14 billion in 2022, 3.6 per cent higher than the USD34.88 billion recorded in 2021. The full-year 2022 level accounted for 8.9 per cent of the country’s GDP.
