OFW remittances continue to buoy Filipinos at home

Global migration trends continue to affect Philippine labor and economy as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reports a three percent overall remittance growth to $17.59 billion (from January to June 2023) from the year-earlier $17.09 billion.

The same data found that cash remittances by overseas Filipino workers also increased by 2.9 percent to $15.79 billion compared to $13.35 billion in 2022. In June alone, OFW remittances sent through banks hit $2.81 billion, the highest level since $3.16 billion in December 2022. According to BSP data, personal remittances, including non-monetary inflows, grew by 2.2 percent to $3.13 billion in June from $3.06 billion in the same month last year.

Data from the Department of Migrant Workers and the Philippine Statistics Authority found that the country deployed over 1.8 million OFWs to major destination countries in 2022, which accounted for the largest financial contribution of all observed areas in this study.

"Millions of Filipinos are welcomed and valued in various industries and economies worldwide. While the pandemic slowed their deployment, this has since rebounded thanks to easing restrictions and inclusive labor policies in both the Philippines and host countries," said Earl Melivo, head of Asia-Pacific at WorldRemit.

Land-based workers with contracts of a year or more and sea- and land-based workers with contracts of less than one year served as the greatest contributors, according to recent reports. Origin countries with the largest remittance flows from January to June 2023 were the United States at 41 percent, Singapore at seven percent, Saudi Arabia at six percent, and Japan at five percent.