MANILA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Remittances to the Philippines from overseas Filipino workers surged by 16 percent year-on-year to 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in August, bank sources said on Monday.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas officer-in-charge Nestor Espenilla said year-to-date, personal remittances fro the first eight months rose by 4.4 percent to 19.5 billion U.S. dollars from 18.7 billion U.S. dollars during the same period last year.
"Personal remittances comprised largely of transfers from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more (at 15.1 billion U.S. dollars) and remittances from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year (at 4.1 billion U.S. dollars)," he said.
Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks increased by 16.3 percent in August to 2.3 billion U.S. dollars.
Cumulative remittances in the first eight months to August posted a 4.6 percent increase amounting to 17.6 billion U.S. dollars.
About 80 percent of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, Qatar, Kuwait, China's Hong Kong, and Germany, the central bank said.
