MANILA – Cash remittances from Filipinos overseas rose by 6.9 percent in May compared to the same period last year, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed.

Cash remittance or those coursed through banks, totaled $2.5 billion in May, bringing the total cash remittances to $11.8 billion for the first five months this year, a 4.2 percent increase compared to the same period in 2017, the BSP said.

Seventy eight percent of the total cash remittances came from US, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates (UAE), UK, Japan, Qatar, Hong Kong, Germany and Kuwait, the BSP said.

Meanwhile, personal remittances reached $2.7 billion in May, 6.1 percent higher compared to the same period last year, bringing the January to May total to $13.2 billion, 4.4 percent higher compared to the first five months of 2017, the BSP said.