The BSP reported that OFW personal remittance hit $3 billion in October as opposed to the $2.8 billion year-ago level. AFP

The foreign currency earnings sent back home by overseas Filipino workers (OFW), both personal and cash, posted significant increments in October, latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) show.

“Personal remittances of OFW reached $3 billion in October 2019, a 7.7 percent increase from $2.8 billion in October 2018,” the BSP said.

“On a year-to-date basis (January to October), remittances grew by 4.3 percent to $27.6 billion, higher than last year’s level of $26.5 billion,” it added.

According to the central bank, the increase may be traced to the steady influx of remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and land-based workers with contracts of less than a year, reaching $21.1 billion and $7.5 billion respectively.

Likewise, OFW cash remittances coursed through banks during the month accelerated by 8 percent to $2.7 billion compared to only $2.5 billion in October 2018.

On a cumulative basis, cash remittances for the first ten months of the year amounted to $24.9 billion, a 4.6 percent expansion from the recorded $23.8 billion in the same period year-ago.

By country source, the US took the lion’s share of the overall remittances with 37.6 percent. This was followed by Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong and Kuwait.

“The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78.4 percent of total cash remittances during the period,” the central bank concluded.