Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) increased by 2.4 percent year-on-year to reach $21.2 billion from January to August, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Officer-in-Charge Maria Almasara Cyd Tua?o-Amador announced Monday.

Personal remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more grew by 2.1 percent to $16.3 billion, while transfers from sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts expanded by 3.8 percent to $4.4 billion.

However, personal remittances for August 2018 were 1.4 percent lower than the level posted in August 2017.

Meanwhile, for January to August 2018, cash remittances from OFs coursed through banks recorded a 2.5 percent growth from the same period a year ago to reach $19.1 billion.

Cash remittances sent by land-based workers rose by 2.1 percent to $15.1 billion, and transfers from sea-based workers grew by 3.8 percent to $4.0 billion.

For August, however, cash remittances posted a 0.9 percent decrease year-on-year to $2.5 billion. The countries that contributed to the decline in August are the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

By country source, more than 79 percent of the total cash remittances for the first eight months of 2018 came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Canada, Germany, and Hong Kong. DMS