OFW remittances hit 9-mo high

MANILA, Philippines - Cash remittances from Filipinos overseas, which help power domestic consumption,  rose to a nine-month high in September amid steady demand for skilled and professional workers, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

Remittances in September grew 5.3 percent to $1.94 billion, bringing the nine-month tally to $16.5 billion. The nine-month figure was also 5.8 percent higher than last year’s level.

The steady deployment of overseas Filipino workers remained one of the key drivers of growth in remittance flows, the central bank said in a statement.  “Remittances were driven mainly by the steady demand for skilled and professional Filipino manpower,” the central bank said.

Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the BSP said job orders reached 609,948 in the nine months to September.

Remittances from land-based workers climbed 5.3 percent to $12.6 billion during the nine-month period, while money sent home by sea-based workers expanded 7.5 percent to $3.9 billion.

The BSP said the major sources of remittances during the nine-month period were the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Canada, and Japan.

Personal remittances, which include cash and non-cash items sent home by Filipinos abroad, jumped 6.8 percent to $2.136 billion in September from the previous year. This brought the nine-month figure to $18.170 billion, up 6.6 percent from the same period last year.

The central bank expects cash remittances from Filipinos abroad to grow five percent this year. Cash remittances in 2012 reached $21.39 billion, up 6.3 percent from a year earlier.

The major sources of cash remittances in September were the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Canada and Japan. Remittances have held up well despite the global economic turmoil, keeping domestic consumption robust, which in turn helped offset weak global demand for the country’s exports.

A super typhoon that devastated the central Philippines could slow the country’s economic growth in the fourth quarter, but the government’s full-year target of six to seven  percent is still within reach, according to Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.