Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 17) — Overseas Filipinos sent home more money for the second month in a row in March, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Monday.
Remittances rose to $2.8 billion in March, 5.6% higher than the $2.65 billion tallied the same month in 2020. The recent figure lifted total remittances during the first quarter of 2021 to $8.45 billion, a 2.9% increase from the $8.218 billion logged in the same period last year.
Land-based workers with contracts of one year or more transferred more funds to their kin at $2.115 billion, growing by 5% from the $2.014 billion they sent home in March 2020. Seafarers and short-term workers also remitted more money, posting a $617 million total or a 4.5% jump from the $591 million recorded a year prior.
The central bank says this reflects “mainly the easing of travel restrictions, re-opening of borders to foreign workers, and progress in COVID-19 vaccine roll out in many advanced countries.”
The BSP said the United States has the highest share in total remittances for the first three months of 2021 at 40.8%. The rest came from Filipinos in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Qatar, Taiwan and Malaysia.
Remittances are among the main sources of Filipino families’ disposable income. Dollars sent home pay for daily expenses like food, utilities, school fees, and even luxuries of the recipient relatives, in turn boosting household spending and supporting economic activity which had been hampered by local quarantine restrictions.
