MANILA - Remittances from overseas Filipinos (OF) hit a record high of US$3 billion last December, the central bank said Thursday.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said personal remittances grew 7.9 percent in December compared to the same month in 2016.

BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said this brought personal remittances for 2017 to $31.3 billion, 5.3 percent higher than the $29.7 billion level in the previous year, and exceeding the BSP’s projected growth of 4 percent for 2017.

Personal remittances represent the sum of net compensation of employees, personal transfers, and capital transfers between households.

"The 2017 level of OF personal remittances accounted for 10.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 8.3 percent of gross national income (GNI)," the BSP said.

The bulk of cash remittances came from the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany, and Hong Kong.

Aside from boosting consumption, remittances, together with business process outsourcing and tourism receipts, also serve as a major source of foreign exchange buffer that helps shield the Philippines from external shocks.

A surge of remittances during the holiday season last year helped lift the peso to P49 versus the dollar in December last year.

• Peso strengthens further on remittances boost

The peso closed at P52 to the dollar on Thursday, according to the Philippine Dealing System.