Overseas Filipinos (OFs) sent home a record $3.6 billion in personal remittances in December 2023, marking a 3.9 percent increase from the $3.5 billion reported in the same month in 2022, according to data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines.
This surge in remittances was attributed to higher contributions from land-based workers with contracts of a year or more, alongside sea- and land-based workers on shorter contracts.
For the entire year of 2023, personal remittances from OFs reached an unprecedented total of $37.2 billion, up 3.0 percent from $36.1 billion in 2022.
The continued demand for Filipino workers abroad has led to a significant rise in the deployment of OF workers, contributing to the robust growth in remittances which now account for substantial shares of the Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Income (GNI), at 8.5 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively.
Cash remittances processed through banks also saw an increase, reaching $3.3 billion in December 2023, a 3.8 percent rise from the $3.2 billion recorded in December 2022.
The year 2023 witnessed cash remittances climb to $33.5 billion, a 2.9 percent growth from the previous year’s $32.5 billion. This growth was significantly supported by remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
The United States emerged as the leading source of remittances for 2023, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia. However, the data on remittance sources comes with limitations, as remittances processed through correspondent banks in the U.S. and those sent via money couriers are often attributed to the U.S., regardless of the actual country of origin.
This attribution method is due to the practice of listing the most immediate source of funds, which frequently points to the U.S. as the main source of OF remittances.
