Philippine remittances jump by 3.8 pct in April

Philippine remittances from overseas Filipinos grew by 3.8 percent year-on-year to 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in April, the local central bank said Wednesday.

The preliminary data in April brought the cumulative remittances for the first four months of the year to 9.6 billion U.S. dollars, 3 percent higher than the level recorded in the comparable period last year, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said.

He attributed the continued growth in personal remittances during the reference period on the "steady remittance inflows" from land-based overseas Filipino workers with work contracts of one year or more and compensation of sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts.

Meanwhile, cash remittances coursed through banks increased by 4.1 percent to 2.2 billion U.S dollars in April.

On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances for the period January to April reached 8.7 billion U.S. dollars, representing a 3.1 percent growth year-on-year.

The major sources of cash remittances during the period were the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Britain, Japan, Qatar, China's Hong Kong, Kuwait, and Germany.

Preliminary data from the state-run Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) indicated that a total of 777,887 contracts were processed in the first four months of the year. Endit