THE amount of money being poured by Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) into household coffers of their families back home may be plateauing amid rising inflation at home and in their host countries.
Even as the June-only cash remittances posted the highest June cash remittance value on record, cash transfers from Filipinos working abroad are growing at the slowest pace in years due to the war-tied inflation.
Jeremaiah Opiniano, Institute for Migration and Development Issues (IMDI) and professor at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) told the BusinessMirror on Monday: ‘The numbers seem to reveal that even if the June-only cash remittances are the highest June cash remittance on record, cash transfers from overseas Filipinos are slowing down.’
Opiniano said this after latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed cash remittances or the money sent home by Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) reached $3.04 billion in June 2026, the highest monthly cash remittance level recorded in the first half of 2026 and also the highest June-only cash remittance level on record.
Data from the central bank, however, showed that the $3.04-billion cash remittances in June 2026 grew by 1.7 percent from the $2.987 billion in June 2025.
This is the slowest growth rate in cash remittances since February 2022 or in four years and four months when the growth rate of the money sent home by OFWs was at 1.3 percent.
In the January to June 2026 period, cash remittances amounted to $17.149 billion, up 2.4 percent compared to the $16.753 billion in the six-month period in 2025.
The 2.4-percent cumulative growth rate, Opiniano said, ‘seems to show that the growth of cash remittances from overseas Filipinos may be reaching a plateau.’
The 2.4-percent growth rate in the six-month period is the slowest cumulative growth rate for the January to June period since the January to June 2020 period or during the pandemic when cash remittances declined by 4.2 percent.
Surprisingly, however, Opiniano said the six-month cash remittances from the Middle East are US$30 million higher in 2026 compared to the same six-month period last year.
This goes to show, he said, that ‘Filipinos abroad are trying their best to send money amid rising inflation at home and in their host countries, and the running economic impacts of the Middle East conflict.’
On a month-on-month basis, however, the $3.04-billion remittance inflows in June were 12.05 percent higher than the $2.713 billion sent home by overseas Filipino workers in May 2026 or in the previous month.
For his part, Jonathan L. Ravelas, senior adviser at Reyes Tacandong and Co., said the slowdown in remittance growth to 1.7 percent in June is ‘more a story of moderation than a cause for concern.’
‘A combination of base e?ects, softer economic conditions in some host countries, geopolitical uncertainties in parts of the Middle East, and timing-related factors likely weighed on growth during the month,’ added Ravelas.
Ruben Carlo Asuncion, chief economist at Union Bank of the Philippines (UBP), said: ‘Higher living costs in host economies may have also constrained the amount available for transfer, while base effects from relatively stronger inflows a year ago likely contributed to the softer year-on-year growth rate.’
That said, Asuncion emphasized that remittances continued to expand and remained at a ‘relatively high level’ in absolute terms, suggesting that ‘overseas Filipino workers remain employed and continue to provide an important source of support for household consumption and overall economic activity.’
Low contribution to GDP
Opiniano also pointed out: ‘The contribution of remittances to GDP as of the second quarter is 7.1 percent-the lowest since the BSP started tracking this metric.’
Thus, he underscored the need for the national government to ‘continue finding other revenue sources and not just let overseas Filipinos save the day.’
In a statement, the central bank said the United States remained the top source of inflows, followed by Singapore and Saudi Arabia, based on reported remittance transactions by origin.