Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) sent back nearly $3 billion in cash remittances in August 2024, reflecting a year-on-year increase to support school-related expenses, according to data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Tuesday.
The total remittances coursed through formal banking channels reached $2.885 billion in August, marking a 3.2% rise from $2.796 billion during the same period in 2023. This growth was attributed to the increased remittances from both land- and sea-based workers.
Economist Michael Ricafort from Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. explained in a commentary that the rise in remittances during this period was driven by the start of the school year. “These expenditures are compulsory in nature,” he said, citing tuition and other school-related costs as key factors for the surge.
Month-on-month, however, remittances dipped from July’s $3.085 billion. Ricafort noted that the stronger peso in August, trading at P56 to P57 per US dollar compared to P58 in July, reduced the peso equivalent of remittances, contributing to the slight decline.
From January to August, cumulative cash remittances amounted to $22.217 billion, a 2.9% increase from the same period in 2023. The BSP highlighted the contribution of remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore to this growth.
Meanwhile, personal remittances, which include transfers in both cash and kind, rose by 3.3% year-on-year in August to $3.204 billion. These transfers, sent by land-based workers with contracts of one year or more, continued to drive the growth.
Ricafort also linked the consistent rise in remittances to higher inflation rates in the Philippines, which has pressured OFWs to send more money to support their families back home.
