Philippine remittances up by 4.3 pct in September

The Philippine remittances from overseas Filipinos increased by 4.3 percent year on year to 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in September due to continued demand for Filipino workers abroad, the central bank said Monday.

For the first nine months, personal remittances grew to 20.4 billion dollars, 3.9 percent higher from a year ago level, said central bank governor Amando Tetangco Jr.

For the nine-month period, personal remittances from land based workers with work contracts of one year or more rose by 4.3 percent while those from sea based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year grew by 3.3 percent, he said.

On the other hand, cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks grew by 4.3 percent to 2.2 billion dollars in September, bringing the January to September cash remittances to 18.4 billion dollars or 4.1 percent growth year on year.

The major sources of cash remittances for the period were the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Britain, Japan, China's Hong Kong and Canada. Endit