REMITTANCES from overseas Filipinos grew by a double-digit rate, averaging 11.1 percent in August to $1.7 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Monday.

The continued growth allowed the remittances to expand nearly 7 percent in the first eight months to $13.02 billion, boosted by money sent home by land-based and sea-based overseas Filipinos.

The BSP said the remittances of sea-based Filipinos grew at a faster pace of 14.4 percent during the period, or nearly triple the 5-percent growth posted by land-based remitters.

“Notwithstanding lingering global economic uncertainties, the cumulative stream of remittances from overseas Filipinos continued to be solid and resilient, supported by the sustained demand for Filipino skills abroad,” BSP Governor Amado Tetangco Jr. said in a statement.

The growing number of alternative remittance services offered by banks and financial institutions also encouraged overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries to use the formal channels for their fund transfers, he quickly added.

The remittances are an important source of liquidity for an economy whose consumption activities help fuel local output measured as the gross domestic product.

Consumption activities account for an estimated two-thirds of local output and, therefore, an important economic driver.

Remittances from the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Italy, Germany and Norway made up nearly 85 percent of total remittance the banks reported during the period, Tetangco said.