
THE amount of cash sent home by using overseas Filipino works (OFWs) reached $2.Ninety one billion in March, the highest month-to-month remittance degree on file.
The quantity is predicted to help bridge the u . S . A .’s huge exchange deficit.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) records showed personal remittances rose via eleven.Eight percent in March from $2.60 billion a year earlier. Remittances totaled $2.39 billion in February. The remittances in March eclipsed the preceding file $2.82 billion in December 2016.
For the primary 3 months of the 12 months, remittances reached $7.70 billion, up 8.1 percent from $7.13 billion a year earlier.
“The increase in private remittances during the primary zone of the 12 months become pushed with the aid of the ten.5 percentage growth in transfers from land-based workers with paintings contracts of 12 months or more, making up for the 2.0 percent decrease in remittances from sea-primarily based and land-primarily based workers with work contracts of less than 365 days,” the BSP said.
Personal remittances are transfers in cash or in kind, as well as capital transfers among households.
“I assume the primary takeaway from that is that we shouldn’t be too worried approximately the change stability being inside the deficit, as the massive surplus from OFW flows will assist to offset,” stated DBS economist Gundy Cahyadi.
“Particularly true additionally because the alternate deficit has been pushed with the aid of strong import demand, more than whatever else,” he brought.
In the primary area of 2017, the country’s alternate deficit accelerated by 19.2 percent to $6.Fifty four billion from $5.Forty eight billion a year in advance.
Cash remittances
Cash remittances coursed via banks totaled $2.Sixty one billion in March, up 10.7 percent from $2.36 billion. In February, cash remittances totaled $2.16 billion.
The BSP said remittances sent by means of land-primarily based workers rose by using 12.Eight percentage to $2.1 billion. Sea-primarily based people at sent $zero.5 billion, up three.1 percent.
The primary individuals to the boom in remittances all through the month are the US, Canada, United
Arab Emirates, Japan and Hong Kong. Cash remittances rose to $6.9 billion the first sector, up 7.7 percent from a year in advance.
Cash remittances from land-based totally employees grew by way of 10.4 percent to $five.6 billion, compensating for a 2.0 percentage lower in sea-based totally people’ transfers to $1.4 billion.
The BSP stated nearly 80 percentage of coins remittances within the first zone of 2017 got here from america, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Canada.


