BusinessWorld
May 18, 2021 | 12:34 am
Reporter
CASH REMITTANCES from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) rose by 4.9% in March as many host countries start to further ease pandemic-related restrictions as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections drop.
This helped push first-quarter remittances by 2.6% higher at $7.593 billion, data from the central bank showed on Monday.
Cash remittances stood at $2.514 billion in March, higher than the $2.397 billion a year earlier. The month’s remittances went up by 1.53% from the $2.476 billion in February.
“This is the second consecutive month that remittances were higher than last year’s levels, reflecting mainly the easing of travel restrictions, re-opening of borders to foreign workers, and progress in COVID-19 vaccine rollout in many advanced countries,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement.
BusinessWorld
May 17, 2021 | 9:00 pm
THE peso dropped versus the dollar on Monday due to higher global oil prices seen last week. BW FILE PHOTO
THE PESO weakened against the greenback on Monday as market sentiment took a hit from higher global oil prices seen last week after hackers shut down a major US pipeline.
The local unit finished trading at P47.855 per dollar on Monday, shedding 4.5 centavos from its previous finish of P47.81 against the greenback.
The peso opened Monday’s session at P47.80 per dollar, which was also its intraday best. Meanwhile, its weakest showing for the day was at P47.865 versus the greenback.
Dollar reserves hit 3-month high as of end-April
May 14, 2021 | 8:10 pm
Reporter
KSTUDIO-FREEPIK
The country’s dollar reserves reached $107.25 billion as of end-April, backed by proceeds from the bond issuances of the national government and higher valuation of the central bank’s gold holdings.
April’s gross international reserves (GIR) went up by 2.65% from the $104.48-billion level as of end-March and by 17.9% from the $90.942 billion a year ago, based on data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Friday. The end-April level is also the highest since the $108.674-billion seen as of end-January.
“The month-on-month increase in the GIR level reflected proceeds of the National Government’s global and samurai bond issuances, which were deposited with the BSP,” the central bank said in a statement.
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