Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) reached $3.0 billion in November 2023, higher by 2.9 percent than the $2.9 billion posted in November 2022, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Monday.

The growth in personal remittances during the month was driven by increased remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year.

Similarly, the cumulative personal remittances grew by 2.9 percent to $33.6 billion in the first eleven months of 2023 from $32.6 billion recorded in the comparable period in 2022.

Out of the personal remittances, cash remittances from OFs coursed through banks registered a 2.8 percent increase to $2.7 billion in November 2023 from $2.6 billion in the same month of 2022.

The growth in cash remittances in November 2023 was primarily due to increased receipts from both land- and sea-based workers.

On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances reached $30.2 billion for the first eleven months of 2023, higher by 2.8 percent than the year-ago level of $29.4 billion.

The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first eleven months of 2023.

In terms of the countries where these remittances originate, these had the highest share of overall remittances during the period, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia. BSP