PERSONAL remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) registered US$2.966 billion in January 2022, higher by 2.5 percent than the US$2.895 billion recorded in the same month in 2021.
The increase in personal remittances in January was due to remittances sent by 1) land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, which grew by 2.9 percent to US$2.283 billion from US$2.219 billion in the same month last year, and 2) sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year, which increased by 1.2 percent to US$617 million from US$609 million a year ago.
Similarly, cash remittances coursed through banks registered a 2.5 percent growth to US$2.668 billion in January 2022 from US$2.603 billion recorded in the same month last year. The expansion in cash remittances was due to the increase in receipts from land-based and sea-based workers, which rose by 2.9 percent (to US$2.103 billion from US$2.044 billion) and 1.2 percent (to US$565 million from US$558 million), respectively.
The growth in cash remittances from the United States (US), Japan, and Singapore contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January 2022. Meanwhile, in terms of country sources, the US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 41.2 percent in January 2022, followed by Singapore, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar, and Malaysia.1 The combined remittances from these top ten countries accounted for 79.6 percent of total cash remittances during the period.
