MONEY sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rose to $3.34 billion in September, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday, 3.3 percent higher compared to the year-earlier $3.23 billion.

The amount was also higher than the $3.20 billion posted in August.

September's increase, the BSP said in a statement, "was due to higher remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year."

Year to date, personal remittances rose by 3.0 percent to $28.07 billion from the $27.24 billion recorded in January-September 2023.

Money sent home via banks alone totaled $3.01 billion in September, also 3.3-percent up from $2.91 billion a year earlier and $2.98 billion in the prior month.

"The growth in cash remittances in August 2024 was due to the growth in receipts from land- and sea-based workers," the BSP said.

Year to date, cash remittances were also 3.0 percent higher at $25.23 billion from $24.49 billion.

Cash remittance growth for the nine-month period was mainly due to inflows from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the BSP said.

By country source, the US continued to account for the biggest share (41.3 percent), followed by Singapore (7.0 percent), Saudi Arabia (6.2 percent), Japan (4.9 percent) and the United Kingdom (4.8 percent).

Rounding out the top 10 were the UAE (4.3 percent), Canada (3.5 percent), Qatar (2.9 percent), Taiwan (2.8 percent) and South Korea (2.5 percent).

Sought for comment, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said that higher remittances were expected as most OFWs sent money for the Christmas and New Year holiday season.

"For the coming months, single-digit/modest growth in OFW remittances could still continue as OFW families still need to cope up with relatively higher inflation locally that would require the sending of more remittances," he added.