The foreign-currency earnings of millions of overseas Filipinos sent home in cash in February proved unchanged in volume terms from the month before, totaling $2.169 billion.
The number validates the argument that remittances, a key aggregate accounting for some 10 percent of local output or the GDP, have since peaked, but nevertheless, continues to prove resilient no matter the challenges faced by overseas Filipinos in the various work places abroad.
The state of economic stasis in worker remittances also highlights the fact that the remittance contribution of sea-based overseas Filipinos have become very competitive and that this contributed to the lack of rather more compelling remittance numbers during the period.
Still, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the $2.169 billion sent home via the banks in February represent a slowdown from growth averaging 8.6 percent in January and growth of another 8.4 percent the previous year.
The BSP said three-fourth or some 75 percent of the money remitted to the Philippines represented the foreign-currency earnings of land-based overseas Filipinos.
This number equals $1.7 billion in February.
Sea-based overseas Filipinos remitted only $500 million during the month and testament to more recent developments in which the nation’s merchant mariners now face greater competition in the workplace.
By country source, the bulk of cash remittances originated from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan.
The BSP said the 12.8-percent growth in remittances from the US contributed 3.9 percentage points to the overall growth in cash remittances.
Remittances from the US grew by 9.2 percent, contributing 3 percentage points to the 8.6-percent overall growth.
Those from UAE, Qatar, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan rose by 23.7 percent, 53.5 percent, 17.5 percent, 64.4 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively, with a combined 5.5-percentage-point contribution to total growth in cash remittances.
The increases, according to the central bank, were partially offset by the decline in remittances from Hong Kong, Canada and Kuwait.
The BSP earlier said it expects remittances to grow by 4 percent this year.
As a share of GDP, remittances account for 10 percent of local output in 2016.
The growth of remittances in the first two months averaged 5.9 percent, well within the government target but slightly lower than last year’s 6 percent.