July remittances rose to 7-mo high of $3.18B
Heavy monsoon rains and flash floods that washed out jobs and paralyzed businesses drove overseas Filipinos to wire home bigger cash cushions in July, lifting remittances to their highest level in seven months.
Cash remittances coursed through banks went up by 3 percent from a year earlier to $3.18 billion, according to data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday. This was the strongest inflow since December 2024, when Filipinos abroad sent home $3.38 billion.
The surge lifted total remittances in the first seven months of the year to $19.33 billion, a 3.1-percent increase from the same period in 2024 and slightly ahead of the central bank’s 2025 forecast of a 2.8-percent remittance growth.
Remittances, a vital source of fuel for the country’s consumption-driven economy, rose just as downpours that swamped farms and cut off roads pushed the unemployment rate to a three-year high of 5.3 percent in July.
The increase reflects the counter-cyclical nature of these flows, said John Paolo Rivera, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS). Unlike private capital, which typically retreats during economic downturns or natural disasters, remittances often swell as expats step in to provide relief to their families back home.
The local currency’s weakness, which can increase the peso value of remittances, helped boost the inflows, Rivera added.
“Historically, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) tend to send more during times of hardship (e.g., calamities, inflation spikes, school opening), providing a financial safety net for their families [altruistic motive of sending remittances],” he wrote in a commentary.
“That said, the weak peso also likely amplified inflows, as the depreciation improves the peso value of dollar remittances, incentivizing OFWs to remit more to maximize household purchasing power,” he added.
The United States remained the single largest source of remittances in the January-to-July period, accounting for 40.3 percent of the total, the central bank said. But that figure comes with a caveat: many remittance centers abroad route their transfers through correspondent banks based in the US, inflating America’s share.
This was followed by Singapore with a 7.1-percent share, and Saudi Arabia, where 6.2 percent of inflows came from.
Moving forward, PIDS’ Rivera said the BSP’s projected remittance growth for 2025 remained doable despite geopolitical risks and foreign exchange volatility that could weigh on inflows.
“Remittances are expected to remain resilient in the coming months, driven by seasonal demand (e.g., ‘-ber’ months holiday spending) and strong labor demand abroad,” he added.
Jonathan Ravelas, senior adviser at Reyes Tacandong & Co., shared the same view. “Remittances remain a backbone of household spending. It’s a signal that OFWs are still powering the economy — quietly but consistently,” he said.
