Personal remittances from overseas Philippine people reached 3.2 billion USD in December 2018, up 3.6% year-on-year, the Philippine central bank said on 15 February.

Illustrative image (Source: internet)

The countries that contributed most to the increase in the month were the US and Canada.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor Espenilla said personal remittances reached 32.2 billion USD last year, the highest annual level to date.

Personal remittances are a major driver of domestic consumption, accounting for 9.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 8.1 percent of the gross national income (GNI) in 2018, Espenilla added.

(Source: VNA)