Overseas Filipinos sent money home in record amount last December, bringing personal remittances to cumulative $29.7 billion for 2016 which exceeded targets, the central bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

Personal remittances in December was recorded at $2.8 billion for year-on-year growth of 3.6 percent, said Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor Diwa Gunigundo.

The $29.7 billion tally represented a 4.9 percent increase and exceeded the projected growth of four percent, Gunigundo added.

The growth in personal remittances was due to 7.6 percent increase in money sent from land-based workers with contracts of one year or more, which totaled $23.2 billion.

This made up for a 3.7 percent decline in remittances from sea-based and land-based workers with contracts of less than one year to reach $6.1 billion, the central bank said.

Overseas workers cash remittances through banks are at a historic high of $2.6 billion in December for a year-on-year increase of 3.5 percent, the central bank said.

The main countries that contributed to the increase in total cash remittances for December were the US, Qatar and Japan. Full-year cash remittances grew five percent to reach $26.9 billion. DMS