Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reports that personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) reportedly “reached US$2.78 billion in May 2023, higher by 2.9 percent than the $2.70 billion registered in the same month last year.”
The increase in personal remittances in May 2023 was “due to higher remittances sent by 1) land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and 2) sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year.”
Consequently, personal remittances for “the first five months of the year grew by 3.1 percent to US$14.46 billion, from US$14.02 billion posted in the comparable period in 2022.”
Of the personal remittances from OFs, cash remittances “coursed through banks rose by 2.8 percent to US$2.49 billion in May 2023 from the US$2.43 billion recorded in the same month last year.” The expansion in cash remittances in May 2023 was “due to the growth in receipts from land- and sea-based workers.”
On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances “reached US$12.98 billion, 3.1 percent higher than the year-ago level of US$12.59 billion.”
The growth in cash remittances “from the United States (U.S.), Singapore, and Saudi Arabia contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first five months of 2023.”
Meanwhile, in terms of country sources, “the U.S. posted the highest share of overall remittances during the period, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Japan.”
As clarified in the update, 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.”
As covered last month, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno and Ambassador of India to the Philippines Shambhu Santha Kumaran signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on June 19, 2023 at the Department of Finance (DOF) office in Manila “to enhance cooperation between the Philippines and India in the field of Financial Technology (FinTech).”
Secretary Diokno said:
“Today’s event marks an important milestone in the bilateral relations of India and the Philippines—just in time for the upcoming 5th Philippines-India Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation set to take place in New Delhi, India a few days from now.”
The MOU directs the constitution of “a Joint Working Group (JWG) on FinTech with the Government of the Republic of India (GOI)’s Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance.”
The creation of a JWG is “expected to facilitate inter-governmental discussions on 1) the exchange of best practices to improve policies and regulatory connection, 2) promote cooperation in the development of FinTech solutions for business or financial sectors, and 3) develop international standards by encouraging the creation of an international version of Application Programming Interfaces (API).”
Secretary Diokno said:
“On the one hand, India is a rising economic powerhouse, with a forte in digital technology. On the other, the Philippines hosts a young and tech-savvy talent pool that can provide the intellectual capital needed to succeed in the digital economy. Clearly, the possibilities between our two economies are boundless.”
Ambassador Kumaran said in his remarks:
“In India, for the past seven years, we have seen an exponential growth in digital payments. Currently we are at the level of a hundred billion digital payments a year, with the flagship UPI itself – unified payments interface – itself becoming one of the primary drivers of a cashless, digitalized economy.”