Overseas Filipinos remitted over 2 billion USD to the country in March, posting the highest year-on-year growth of 11.3 percent since December 2009, according to the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP).

This brought the total cash remittances in the first three months to 5.79 billion USD, up 5.5 percent against the same period last year.

The outcome was attributed to the big number of skilled Filipino workers overseas and the expansion of foreign banks’ operation.

The money was mainly sent from the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Singapore, Japan, China’s Hong Kong, and Canada.

The Philippines is the world’s third largest recipient of remittances with nearly 10 million Filipinos working abroad, according to the country’s central bank.

Last year, remittances to the country reached about 24 billion USD.-VNA