Remittances slip 3% in Oct

MANILA, Philippines - Remittance from overseas Filipino workers went down three percent in October as currencies in countries hosting Filipino workers continued to weaken against the dollar.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said cash remittances amounted to $2.1 billion in October, $65 million lower than last year’s $2.16 billion. The amount was the lowest since January when remittances amounted to $1.93 billion.

“The lower US dollar value of remittances in October may also be partly due to the depreciation of major host countries’ currencies vis-à-vis the dollar, such as the pound sterling and the euro,” Tetangco said.

He said remittances from sea-based Filipino workers fell 11.1 percent due to stiffer competition in the supply of seafarers particularly from East Asia and Eastern Europe.

Remittances from land-based workers also slipped by 0.6 percent in October.

Top countries that contributed to the decline in total cash remittances in October were Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

The BSP chief said remittances from the UK declined 5.9 percent in October even as the volume of remittances in original currency increased by 16.5 percent.

“The case of Italy, Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands, however, is different, as remittances in both US dollar equivalent and original currency recorded declines in October,” Tetangco said.

Data showed personal remittances also declined 2.8 percent to $2.33 billion in October from $2.39 billion in the same month last year. Personal remittance is computed as the sum of gross earnings of overseas Filipino workers with work contracts of less than one year, including all sea-based workers, less taxes, social contributions, and transportation and travel expenditures in their host countries.

For the first 10 months, Tetangco said cash remittances coursed through banks went up four percent to $22.12 billion from $21.27 billion in the same period last year.

The US, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, UK, Japan, Qatar, Hong Kong, and Kuwait accounted for more than 80 percent of the total cash remittances from January to October.

Personal remittances increased by 3.9 percent to $24.43 billion in the first 10 months of the year from $23.51 billion in the same period last year.

The BSP sees cash remittances growing by four percent this year on account of steady deployment of Filipino workers, greater diversification of country destinations, and shift to higher-skilled types of work.

There are about 10 million Filipinos working overseas who send money to their loved ones in the Philippines accounting for about 10 percent of the country’s domestic output as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP).