MANILA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos (OFs) increased by 2.4 percent year-on-year to 21.2 billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months of 2018, the Philippine central bank (BSP) data showed on Monday.
BSP officer-in-charge Maria Almasara Cyd Tuano-Amador said in a statement that personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more grew by 2.1 percent to 16.3 billion U.S. dollars, while transfers from sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts expanded by 3.8 percent to 4.4 billion U.S. dollars.
However, she said personal remittances for August 2018 were 1.4 percent lower than the level posted in August 2017.
Meanwhile, from January to August 2018, the BSP said cash remittances from OFs coursed through banks recorded a 2.5 percent growth from the same period a year ago to reach 19.1 billion U.S. dollars.
The BSP said cash remittances sent by land-based workers rose by 2.1 percent to 15.1 billion U.S. dollars, and transfers from sea-based workers grew by 3.8 percent to 4.0 billion U.S. dollars.
For August 2018, however, the BSP said cash remittances posted a 0.9 percent decrease year-on-year to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars.
The countries that contributed to the decline in August 2018 are the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the BSP said.
By country source, the BSP said more than 79 percent of the total cash remittances for the first eight months of 2018 came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Japan, Britain, Qatar, Canada, Germany, and China's Hong Kong.
