Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos rose 2.6 percent to $3.02 billion in February 2025 from $2.95 billion a year earlier, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement on Tuesday.
Compared with the preceding month of January, however, personal remittances in February fell from $3.24 billion.
The February amount also reached its lowest level since May 2024, when personal remittances stood at $2.88 billion.
The BSP said cumulative year-to-date remittances, covering January to February, reached $6.27 billion, or 2.7 percent higher than $6.1 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year.
Seasonal slowdown
Analysts attributed the February remittance performance to various factors such as seasonal slowdown and foreign exchange gyrations.
“The modest remittance growth reflects a mix of seasonal normalization after the holiday surge and the impact of forex dynamics, particularly the stronger PHP in that period, which may have affected remittance behavior,” John Paolo Rivera, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, said.
“Slower global growth and labor market
adjustments in key host economy might have also tempered remittance flows,” he added.
Rivera said remittances are likely to remain resilient, supported by stable overseas employment and continued demand for OFWs.
“However, geopolitical risks, currency volatility, and potential slowdowns in advanced economies may keep growth moderate in the coming months,” Rivera said.
Of the personal remittances from OFs, cash remittances coursed through banks reached $2.72 billion in February 2025, up 2.7 percent from the $2.65 billion posted in February 2024.
On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances rose by 2.8 percent to $5.63 billion in the first two months of 2025 from the $5.48 billion registered in January to February 2024.
Cash remittances
Of the personal remittances from overseas Filipinos, cash remittances coursed through banks reached $2.72 billion in February 2025, up 2.7 percent from $2.65 billion in February 2024.
On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances rose by 2.8 percent to $5.63 billion in the first two months of 2025, up from $5.48 billion in January to February 2024.
Good ‘growth driver’
Michael Ricafort, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist, said the single-digit growth is still a good sign for the overall economy as an important growth driver, especially in terms of consumer spending.
“The net increase in the US dollar versus the peso by about 12 percent over the past three years would require sending the lower amount of remittances to pay for the number of expenses in pesos but higher prices since 2022,” Ricafort said.
Ricafort said the month-on-month lower remittances are somewhat expected upon crossing the new year, considering the expected seasonal slowdown in OFW remittances and conversion to pesos after the Christmas and New Year holiday season.
“For the coming months, protectionist policies by US President Trump, particularly stricter immigration rules, could weigh on some OFW remittances, especially from the US,” Ricafort said.
“Trump’s threats of higher tariffs/reciprocal tariffs and other America-first policies could also slow down global trade, investments, employment including some OFW jobs, and overall world economic/GDP growth, thereby could also indirectly slow down the growth in OFW remittances from other countries around the world,” he added. —Angela Celis
Countries of origin
According to the BSP, remittances from the US, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates mainly contributed to the increase in remittances in the first two months of 2025.
“In terms of country sources, the US accounted for the largest share of overall cash remittances, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia,” the BSP said.
The BSP clarified that the ranking of country sources had some limitations. A common practice by money centers is to route remittances through correspondent banks, most of which are in the US.
Most money couriers also have their main offices in the US.
“Therefore, the US would appear to be the main source of overseas Filipinos’ remittances because banks attribute the origin of funds to the most immediate source,” the BSP said.
The BSP noted that an increase in personal remittances was observed among land-based and sea-based workers.
