Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) reached US$2.895 billion in January 2021, 1.7 percent lower than the US$2.944 billion recorded in the same period last year. The marginal decline in personal remittances during the month was attributed to the 2.4 percent drop in remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more to US$2.219 billion from US$2.274 billion recorded in January 2020.
Meanwhile, remittances from sea-based workers and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year increased by 1 percent to US$609 million in January 2021 from US$603 million in January 2020.
Similarly, OFs’ cash remittances coursed through banks decreased by 1.7 percent to US$2.603 billion in January 2021 from US$2.648 billion in the comparable month a year ago. In particular, cash remittances from land-based workers contracted by 2.4 percent to US$2.044 billion, while that of sea-based workers increased marginally by 1 percent to US$558 million.
By country source, the United States registered the highest share to total remittances at 40.9 percent, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, and Taiwan.1 The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78.2 percent of total cash remittances during the period.
source: BSP