In February 2024, Overseas Filipinos (OFs) sent home a robust US$2.95 billion in personal remittances, marking a 3.0 percent increase from the US$2.86 billion recorded in the same month last year. This uptick is attributed to contributions from land-based workers with contracts of a year or more, as well as sea- and land-based workers with shorter contracts.
The cumulative remittances for the first two months of 2024 also saw a rise, reaching US$6.10 billion, which is a 2.8 percent increase year-on-year from US$5.93 billion.
Bank-coursed cash remittances were a significant part of this growth, registering US$2.65 billion in February alone, a 3.0 percent rise from February 2023’s US$2.57 billion. The year-to-date figures are equally promising, with cash remittances climbing by 2.8 percent to US$5.48 billion.
The United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates were the primary contributors to this growth. Notably, the United States remains the largest source of overall remittances, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Japan.
It’s important to note that remittance data by source country has certain limitations. Many remittance centers route transactions through correspondent banks, predominantly located in the U.S., and money couriers’ remittances often cannot be broken down by the actual country source. Consequently, the U.S. frequently appears as the main source of OF remittances.
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