Personal Remittances Rise by 4.8 Percent YoY in September 2021; First Nine-Month Level Reaches US$25.7 Billion

​Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) in September 2021 reached US$3.026 billion, 4.8 percent higher than the US$2.888 billion recorded in the same month last year. This resulted in cumulative remittances rising by 5.7 percent in the first nine months of 2021 to US$25.699 billion from US$24.302 billion registered in the comparable period in 2020.

The increase in personal remittances in September was due to remittances sent by 1) land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, which grew by 6.2 percent to US$2.341 billion from US$2.205 billion in the same month last year, and 2) sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year, which increased by 1.7 percent to US$633 million from US$623 million a year ago.

Of the personal remittances from OFs, cash remittances coursed through banks registered a 5.2 percent growth to US$2.737 billion in September 2021 from US$2.601 billion recorded in the same month last year. The expansion in cash remittances was due to the increase in receipts from land-based and sea-based workers, which rose by 6.2 percent (to US$2.156 billion from US$2.031 billion) and 1.9 percent (to US$581 million from US$570 million), respectively. On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances reached US$23.117 billion in the first nine months of 2021, 5.6 percent higher than the year-ago level of US$21.886 billion.

The growth in cash remittances from the United States (U.S.), Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea contributed largely to the increase in remittances in January-September 2021. Meanwhile, in terms of country sources, the U.S. registered the highest share of overall remittances at 40.8 percent in the first nine months of 2021, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Taiwan, Qatar, and South Korea.¹ The combined remittances from these top ten countries accounted for 78.9 percent of total cash remittances.

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¹ There are some limitations on the remittance data by source. A common practice of remittance centers in various cities abroad is to course remittances through correspondent banks, most of which are located in the U.S. Also, remittances coursed through money couriers cannot be disaggregated by actual country source and are lodged under the country where the main offices are located, which, in many cases, is in the U.S. Therefore, the U.S. would appear to be the main source of OF remittances because banks attribute the origin of funds to the most immediate source. The countries are listed in order of their share of cash remittances, i.e., from highest to lowest.

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