Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos (OFs) rose to $2.9 billion in May, a 5.5 percent increase from $2.7 billion in the same period last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Monday.

On a cumulative basis, personal remittances for the period January-May 2019 increased by 4.1 percent to reach $13.7 billion from last years' level of $13.2 billion, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said.

The growth in personal remittances in January-May drew support from the remittance inflows from land-based OF workers with work contracts of one year or more, which aggregated to $10.5 billion from $10.2 billion in the same period last year, BSP said.

Inflows from the compensation of sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts also contributed to this growth and totalled $2.9 billion from $2.7 billion a year ago.

Cash remittances from OFs coursed through banks rose to $2.6 billion in May, a 5.7 percent increase, from $2.5 billion in the same period a year ago.

This brought cash remittances for January - May to reach $12.3 billion, 4.5 percent higher than the $11.8 billion in the same period last year.

Cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers increased by 3.2 percent at $9.7 billion and 9.2 percent at $2.7 billion, respectively, from January to May.

By country source, the US registered the highest share of overall remittances for January to May at 36 percent.

It was followed by Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, the UK, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Qatar and Kuwait. The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78 percent of total cash remittances from January to May. DMS