towards Katherine K. Chan
More money sent homeWorkers of the Philippines (ofW) It rose 3.2% year-on-year in August, as a weak peso pushed up the value of cash, data from the Bangko Sentral NG Pipipinas (BSP) showed.
In a statement, the BSP said that the amount of money received by banks increased by 3.2% billion to $2.977 billion in August from the same month last year.
Despite the year-over-year growth, revenue was down 6.4% month-on-month from a seven-month high of $3.179 billion in July.
The August tally was the lowest in three months or since the $2.658-billion bill in May.
“Remittances from overseas continued to grow … this development was due to higher disapproval from low-level and offshore workers,” the BSP said in a statement on Wednesday.
Remittances sent home by land-based workers rose 3% year-on-year to $2.35 billion in August, including the bulk of cash payments.
Outlays from offshore-based workers similarly rose 3.8% year-on-year to $626 million in August.
“Funds paid increased by 3.2% year-on-year in August to August to $2.98 billion, supported by steady overseas activity and manipulation from key markets such as the US, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia,” Union Bank of The Philippines Chief economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said in a Viber message.
Robert Dan J. Roces, an economist at SM Investment Corp., said the 3.2% year-on-year increase in August represented a “modest display” compared to the 3% growth in July.
“This suggests that the flow of money has been somewhat stable despite the global pressures, and it shows, with low volatility or low volatility of monthly flows,” he said in Viber’s department.
Mr. Roces said the weak peso is driving higher dollar terms as receivers “Get more value for money.”
“Evidence from BSP studies highlighted the positive role of exchange rate depreciation as a driver of payments,” he added.
In August, the peso reached P57.2525 against the Greenback, weakening from the P56.7523-Per-Dollar average in July.
On the other hand, Mr. Asuncion said that the DIP of the month that is issued for the month shows that “the implementation of certain periods after spending money back to school and the flexible peso.”
At the same time, personal payments, which include both money courses through banks and informal channels and money paid in August in August, increased by 3.2% billion a year earlier.
Workers with contracts of one year and above sent home the bulk of their pay at $2.54 billion, up 3% year over year.
Personal deductions from employees with contracts of less than one year also rose 4% year over year to $690 million.
A period of eight months
In the eight months to August, remittances from emigrant Filipinos increased by 3.1% to $22.909 billion from $22.217 billion sent in the same period last year.
Disbursements from land-based workers increased by 3.3% year-on-year to $ 18,32 billion as of End-August, while the money spent on Sea-based ofw increased by 2 4.59 billion.
Money sent home from the United States accounted for 40.4% of remittances in eight months of the year.
This was followed by Singapore (7.1%), Saudi Arabia (6.3%), Japan (4.8%), United Arab Emirates (3.4%), Qaiwar (2.8%) and South Korea (2.6%).
Meanwhile, personal income rose by 3.1% to $25.51 billion in the eight-month period from $24.74 billion last year.
“With year-on-year growth ahead of the holidays and early holidays, premiums remain on track to meet the BSP’s overnight growth forecast,” said Mr. Asuncion.
Mr. Roces said that wages usually increase during the period of September-December, which can increase throughout the year.
The BSP expects the currency to grow by 3% to $35.5 billion this year.
