The countries that contributed most to the increase in the month were the US and Canada.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor Espenilla said personal remittances reached $32.2 billion last year, the highest annual level to date.
Personal remittances are a major driver of domestic consumption, accounting for 9.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 8.1 percent of the gross national income (GNI) in 2018, Espenilla added.