THE money sent home by the overseas Filipinos for the first ten months rose by 3.9 percent year-on-year to $24.4 billion, the central bank said Thursday.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more amounted to $19.0 billion while those from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year, excluding their expenditures abroad, totaled $5.1 billion.
Personal remittances in October, however, fell by 2.8 percent year-on-year to $2.3 billion.
Meanwhile, cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks rose by 4.0 percent year-on-year in January to October to $22.1 billion.
In particular, remittances from land-based workers in the first ten months increased by 6.3 percent, compensating for the 3.7 percent decline in sea-based workers’ remittances.
Total cash remittances in October also declined by 3.0 percent year-on-year to $2.1 billion as remittances from sea-based workers declined by 11.1 percent while those from land-based workers slid by 0.6 percent.
"Stiffer competition in the supply of seafarers, particularly from East Asia and Eastern Europe, has contributed to the declining trend in sea-based remittances," Tetangco said.
The top countries that contributed to the decline in total cash remittances in October were Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
"The lower US dollar value of remittances in October may also be partly due to the depreciation of major host countries’ currencies vis-à-vis the US dollar, such as the pound sterling and the euro," Tetangco added. (SDR/Sunnex)