MANILA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos (OFs) grew for the second consecutive month, increasing by 7.6 percent year-on-year to 3.085 billion U.S. dollars in July 2020 from 2.867 billion U.S. dollars in July 2019, the Philippine central bank said on Tuesday.
"This brought the total remittances for the first seven months of 2020 to 18.658 billion U.S. dollars, 2.4 percent lower than the 19.119 billion U.S. dollars posted a year ago," the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement.
The BSP attributed the growth to the 12.6 percent increase in remittances from land-based workers in July 2020 compared to the same month last year.
Meanwhile, the BSP said the remittances from sea-based workers fell by 9.2 percent in July 2020 compared to the same month last year due mainly to the repatriation of sea-based workers amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The country's central bank added that cash remittances coursed through the banks rose for the second month in a row, posting an increment of 7.8 percent to 2.783 billion U.S. dollars in July 2020 from 2.581 billion U.S. dollars in July 2019.
An estimated 12 million Filipinos are working abroad, according to the Philippine government's data. These overseas Filipino workers remit money to their families back in the Philippines.
The Asian Development Bank has projected the remittances from overseas Filipino workers, equivalent to nine percent of the Philippines' gross domestic product, to slow this year due to COVID-19. Enditem
