Recipients of the foreign currency earnings of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) still save a good portion of the funds, the latest consumer expectations survey (CES) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) revealed last week.

Data from the survey shows 38.5 percent of OFW households saved a portion of the remittances in the fourth quarter, higher than the recorded 37.3 percent in the previous quarter.

However, OFW households who used their remittances for investment purposes during the period fell from 7.9 percent to only 5.1 percent.

But spending for basic household needs such as food and in the acquisition of consumer durables as well as motor vehicles increased among such families.

According to the CES, the percentage of households who used the remittances for food and other household needs stood at 97.3 percent in the fourth quarter period compared to the posted 96.1 percent quarter-ago.

Similarly, spending for appliances and motor vehicles grew 20.7 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively, an acceleration from only 20.6 percent and 6.5 percent on the same comparable period.

“(By geographical area,) a bigger percentage of OFW households in the National Capital Region allocated part of their remittances to medical expenses, savings and purchase of consumer durables and house compared to their counterparts in areas outside NCR,” the BSP said.

As for the receipt of remittances, more OFW households find the transaction easy the last 12 months while those who reported difficulty traced it to the strict requirements.

Earlier, the central bank said cash remittances as of end-October 2019 totaled $2.7 billion, an 8 percent increase year-on-year.

Also, the BSP kept its $3 billion projection for cash remittances for 2019, similar with its $3 billion outlook for the full year 2020.