OFW inflows up 6.3% to $11.35 B in Jan-July

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday that remittances by Filipinos working abroad climbed 6.3 percent in the first seven months of the year on the back of the sustained demand for skilled Filipino manpower amid the economic growth concerns in the US, the debt crisis in Europe, as well as the tensions in the Middle East and North African (MENA) states.

BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the amount of money sent home by Filipinos abroad to their loved ones in the Philippines amounted to $11.35 billion from January to July, or $672 million higher than the $10.679 billion remitted in the same period last year.

Tetangco said remittances from land-based Filipino workers inched up 4.3 percent while that from sea-based workers rose 14.1 percent during the period.

Data released by the BSP yesterday showed that about 83 percent of the total remittances came from the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Italy and Germany.

“The steady inflow of funds from overseas Filipinos despite the difficult conditions overseas could be explained partly by the sustained demand for Filipino manpower,” Tetangco stressed.

For the month of July alone, OFW remittances increased 6.1 percent to $1.715 billion from $1.616 billion in the same month last year. The remittance level in July was the second highest after the record monthly level of $1.737 billion booked last June.

“The favorable remittance outlook is expected to be supported by the ongoing geographical diversification of deployment of Filipino workers and efforts by the government to redeploy displaced workers in crisis-affected countries,” the BSP chief added.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) reported that processed jobs orders for production, service, professional, technical, and other related workers in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan, Qatar, Kuwait, and Hong Kong reached 162,574 from January to August.

The agency also reported that the number of land-based workers with processed contracts awaiting to be deployed increased 24.2 percent to 313,709 in the first seven months of the year, while that of sea-based workers inched up 5.5 percent to 280,348.

However, Tetangco noted that the decision of New York-based Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the triple A credit rating of the US, the protracted sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the social unrest in the MENA region would have a modest impact on the amount of money sent home by overseas Filipinos for the rest of the year.

Last April, the BSP lowered its OFW remittance growth forecast to seven percent or $20.1 billion instead of the original target of eight percent or $20.2 billion this year due to the tensions in the MENA region and the disasters in Japan. Next year, it expects a slower growth of five percent or $21.2 billion.

OFW remittances grew 8.2 percent to a record $18.76 billion last year from $17.35 billion in 2009 due to the continued demand for skilled Filipino workers abroad as well as the expansion of remittance centers abroad, giving OFWs more options to send money to their loved ones in the Philippines.

Tetangco explained that banks continued to introduce innovations in their remittance products and expand their tie-ups abroad to reach out to a growing segment of overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries, including partnering with post offices servicing remittances.

“Another important factor contributing to the continued flow of remittances is the increasing use of financial channels for sending their transfers,” he added.