Remittances hit 7-month high in July

Money sent home by Filipinos working and living overseas reached a seven-month high of $3.18 billion in July, driven by higher demand during the school opening season.

- By DERCO ROSAL

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), total cash remittances in July were three percent higher than the $3.08 billion in July last year, which was the second-largest remittance in 2024, next to December’s inflows.

Cash remittances from sea-based overseas Filipinos (OFs) rose faster than fund transfers from land-based OFs, the central bank said in a report released on Monday, Sept. 15.

Land-based OFs accounted for the bulk of $2.59 billion, which expanded by three percent. Meanwhile, the sea-based OFs contributed a smaller share of $585 million, but increased at a modestly faster rate of 3.1 percent.

For the first seven months of the year, cumulative cash remittances increased by 3.1 percent to $19.93 billion from $19.33 billion in the same period last year. Notably, the year-to-date remittances also emerged as the largest in year-to-date figures since 2022.

This is equivalent to 56.1 percent of the central bank’s full-year remittance growth target of $35.5 billion this year.