Personal remittances from Overseas Filipinos Workers (OFWs) for the first five months of 2018 grew by 4.4 percent year-on-year to reach 13.2 billion U.S. dollars, the Bangkok Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Monday.

BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla said personal remittances during the period was driven by steady inflows from land-based OFWs with work contracts of one year or more, which totaled up to 10.2 billion U.S. dollars, and compensation of sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts, which reached 2.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Personal remittances reached 2.7 billion U.S. dollars in May 2018, or 6.1 percent higher than the level posted in May 2017, Espenilla said.

Moreover, he said cash remittances from OFWs coursed through banks rose by 6.9 percent year-on-year to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in May 2018.

In particular, he said cash remittances sent by land-based workers amounted to 1.9 billion U.S. dollars and sea-based workers amounted to 500 million U.S. dollars or a growth of 5.3 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.

Cash remittances coming from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Britain, Japan, Qatar, China's Hong Kong, Germany and Kuwait accounted for about 78 percent of total cash remittances.