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MANILA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) – Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos (OF) grew for the second month in a row, increasing 7.6 percent year-on-year to US $ 3.085 billion in July 2020 from US $ 2.867 billion in July 2019, the Philippine central bank said Tuesday.
“This raised total remittances for the first seven months of 2020 to $ 18,658 million, 2.4 percent less than the $ 19,119 million recorded a year ago,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a release.
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 that maritime worker remittances fell 9.2 percent in July 2020 compared to the same month last year mainly due to the repatriation of maritime workers amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. .
The country’s central bank added that cash remittances entering banks increased for the second month in a row, registering a 7.8 percent increase to $ 2,783 billion in July 2020 from $ 2,581 billion in July. 2019.
An estimated 12 million Filipinos are working abroad, according to Philippine government data. These overseas Filipino workers send money to their families in the Philippines.
The Asian Development Bank has projected that remittances from Filipino workers abroad, equivalent to nine percent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product, will slow this year due to COVID-19. Final product
