BSP:August remittances climbed at the fastest pace in over 2 years

Remittances grew at the fast pace in more than two years, driven by money transfers for enrollment in the new school-year, an economist noted on Monday after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas released the data on money transfers for August, GMA News reported.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Associate Economist Nicholas Antonio Mapa noted the surge in money transfer was primarily due to the shift in the school year implemented by some schools from June to August and September.

The new school year "forced the migration of remittances" – usually sent before June –to August, he said.

Both personal and cash remittances of overseas Filipinos (OFs) posted a growth rate of 16 percent, the highest since March 2014, central bank data showed.

Personal remittances from Filipinos abroad grew by 16.0 percent to $2.559 billion in August from a year earlier, bringing the year-to-date figures up 4.4 percent at $19.482 billion. This was the highest growth rate since the 16.9 percent in March 2014.

Personal remittances represent the sum of net compensation of employees, personal transfers, and capital transfers between households.

"Personal remittances comprised largely of transfers from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more (at $15.1 billion) and remittances from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year (at $4.1 billion)," the BSP said.

Cash remittances or money transfers coursed through banks increased by 16.3 percent to $2.319 billion, bringing the year-to-date volume higher by 4.6 percent to $17.642 billion.

The growth rate in August was the fastest since the 16.6 percent in March 2014.

"About 80 percent of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Hong Kong, and Germany," the BSP said.