THE steady growth of remittances is expected to continue and indicates that Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) may have already recovered from the pandemic.
Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that cash remittances grew 2.8 percent to $2.7 billion in November 2023 from $2.6 billion in the same month of 2022.
In the 11-month period, cash remittances also grew 2.8 percent to $30.2 billion from $29.4 billion in 2022.
“But the November 2023 cash remittance flow shows that Filipinos abroad have regained their financial bearings already, not minding even the appreciation of the peso,” Executive Director Jeremaiah M. Opiniano of the Institute for Migration and Development Issues (IMDI) said in a statement.
“Then again, there’s the fear that with abundant money may mean less propensities to save,” he, however, told BusinessMirror on Monday.
Opiniano noted that the latest Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) of BSP shows that 43 percent of OFW households allotted remittances to savings during the first quarter. However, this declined to 34.9 percent in the second quarter; 37.3 percent in the third quarter; and 35.2 percent in the last quarter of 2023.
He also expressed concern that OFW households were increasing their purchases of appliances and other consumer durables.
Investments made by OFW households also increased in the second to the last quarter of 2023.
“These trends may imply that OFW households may be getting their wallets active once again, hoping that such savings strike a balance of allotting those amounts for family-relevant purchases and [fingers crossed] investments,” Opiniano said.
“The pandemic taught all of us the hard lesson to handle our incomes with extra care, especially when unfortunate economic shocks happen,” he added.
BSP data showed the growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first 11 months of 2023.
In terms of remittance origins, the US had the highest share of overall remittances during the period, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
The data also showed that personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) reached $3 billion in November 2023, higher by 2.9 percent than the $2.9 billion posted in November 2022.
The cumulative personal remittances grew by 2.9 percent to $33.6 billion in the first eleven months of 2023 from $32.6 billion recorded in the comparable period in 2022.
The BSP said the growth in personal remittances during the month was driven by increased remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes