Corridor
Sending money to the Philippines from Saudi Arabia
1 SAR = 16.9813 PHP
What arrives in the Philippines
A transfer from Saudi Arabia to the Philippines converts Saudi riyals into Philippine pesos. Two things sit between the rate above and the amount your recipient sees: the fee the service charges, and the margin it adds to the rate itself. The second is usually larger, and is often not presented as a cost at all.
Daily reference rate vs what you’ll actually get
The SAR/PHP rate above is the daily reference rate published by European Central Bank euro foreign exchange reference rates on 2026-10-30. It is the reference point, not a price you can transact at.
Why the amount received is lower
- Transfer fee. A flat charge, or a percentage, taken by the sending service.
- Exchange rate markup. Most services apply a spread to the reference rate. This is usually the larger cost and is often not shown as a fee.
- Receiving method. Bank deposit, mobile wallet and cash pickup can carry different rates and charges (bank deposit, e-wallets and cash pickup are priced differently).
- Timing. Reference rates are published once per working day; a transfer is priced when it is executed.
What a markup costs
Illustration only, not a quote from any provider: at a 1.5% markup with a SAR4.00 fee, sending SAR1,000 delivers about ₱16,660 instead of the ₱16,981 the daily reference rate implies — a difference of ₱322.
Common amounts sent from Saudi Arabia
| You send | Reference value in PHP | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| SAR100 | ₱1,698 | 100 Saudi riyals in PHP |
| SAR200 | ₱3,396 | 200 Saudi riyals in PHP |
| SAR500 | ₱8,491 | 500 Saudi riyals in PHP |
| SAR1,000 | ₱16,981 | 1k Saudi riyals in PHP |
| SAR2,000 | ₱33,963 | 2k Saudi riyals in PHP |
| SAR5,000 | ₱84,906 | 5k Saudi riyals in PHP |
What to know about receiving money in the Philippines
Three ways it arrives, and they are not equally fast
Money sent to the Philippines lands by one of three routes: cash collected from a pawnshop and remittance network such as Cebuana Lhuillier, M Lhuillier, Palawan or LBC, usually available within minutes against a government photo ID and a reference number; a mobile wallet, most commonly GCash, credited to a fully verified profile; or a bank account, which moves over the BSP's PESONet and InstaPay rails for peso accounts and the Philippine Domestic Dollar Transfer System for dollar accounts. InstaPay settles in near real time, while PESONet clears in batches on banking days, so a bank transfer sent on a Friday evening may not appear until the following week.
Which routes a provider offers, and what each costs, varies. Cash pickup is the fastest for someone without a bank account and the most exposed to a recipient having to travel to collect it.
Development Bank of the Philippines, remittance services · checked 2026-09-18
Before you send
- Compare the rate, not just the fee. A service advertising no fee may take more through its margin than one charging a flat amount.
- Check the receiving method. Bank deposit, mobile wallet and cash pickup can be priced differently (bank deposit, e-wallets and cash pickup are priced differently).
- Check when it is priced. The reference rate is published once per working day; a transfer is converted when it is actually executed.