MANILA - Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks rose in May, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Tuesday.

Cash remittances from OFs rose 13 percent to $2.382 billion in May from $2.106 billion compared to the same month last year, the BSP said in a statement.

From January to May, cash remittances totaled $12.28 billion up 6.3 percent from $11.554 billion a year ago, the BSP said.

Growth in cash remittances came largely from the US, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and Canada, the central bank said.

In terms of country, the US registered the highest share of overall remittances at 40.1 percent followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan, UK, United Arab Emirates, Canada, South Korea, Qatar and Taiwan.

Personal remittances, meanwhile, rose 13.3 percent to $2.652 billion in May from $2.341 billion in the same period last year, the BSP said.

Cumulative personal remittance for the first 5 months of the year rose 6.6 percent to $13.7 billion year-on-year from $12.835 billion.

Remittances declined in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decrease, however, defied the bleak government and economists' forecast.

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