Filipinos abroad continued to send home more money to their loved ones in the Philippines ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.
Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) climbed for 10 straight months, rising by 4.8 percent to $2.77 billion in November last year.
The amount sent home in November 2021 was the lowest since the $2.65 billion recorded in May last year.
Personal remittances that include all current transfers in cash or in kind by OFWs as well as other household-to-household transfers between Filipinos who have migrated abroad and their families in the Philippines increased by 5.3 percent to $31.58 billion.
The growth in cash remittances coursed through banks accelerated to 5.1 percent, hitting $2.5 billion in November last year. This was the lowest since the $2.38 billion booked in May last year.
For the 11-month period, cash remittances went up 5.2 percent to $28.43 billion amid the strong growth in the US, Taiwan and Malaysia.
The US remained the major source of OFW remittances, taking up 40.7 percent of the total from January to November.
Both personal and cash remittances have been recording growths after contracting by 1.7 percent in January.
