Filipino remittances up in February despite COVID-19

Filipino remittances sent home in February continued to rise despite the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Remittances for February 2020 amounted to $2.62 billion, a 2.6% increase from the same period last year.

For the first two months of 2020, remittances grew by 5%, reaching $5.57 billion compared to $5.3 billion in the same period last year.

The growth rate slowed down slightly from January's 6.6% increase due to the impact of the pandemic on short-term workers and business activities.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno has revised the remittance growth target for this year to an average of 2%.