In a report released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), it was revealed that cash remittances or money transfers from our beloved overseas Filipino workers (OFW) increased by up to 8.7 percent in July, reaching $2.559 billion from the $2.355 billion last year.

During the first half of the year and until July, cash remittances from our beloved OFWs increased by 5.9 percent at $17.9 billion.

In a statement released by the BSP Officer-in-charge, Diwa Guinigundo, he claimed and we quoted:

Apparently, cash remittances or money transfers, which are sent through formal channels such as banks and cash remittance centers, eyed a growth of 7.1 percent every year.

The report revealed that cash remittances from land-based OFWs reached $1.8 billion, while remittances from sea-based OFWs reached to $500 million, marking a 6.8 percent and 8.4 percent growth respectively.

Since January until present, cash remittances saw an increase of 5.0 percent, reaching $16.1 billion.

Moreover, based on the report, cash remittances from US, KSA, UAE, UK, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Qatar, Kuwait and Germany accounted for 80 percent of the total case remittances since January of this year.

Guinigundo believed that the sustained increase in remittances was backed by stable demand for skilled Filipino workers abroad.

This might be true as preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration revealed that from January to July this year, the total number of Filipinos working abroad reached 1,222,003, which accounts for about 58 percent of the total number of OFWs for the year 2016 according to news reports.