January-February 2011 remittances grew 6.9%

According to the Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis, Inc. (IDEA), remittances grew 6.9 percent to US$3.0 billion in January to February 2011. As per said report, remittances inflow from overseas Filipinos channeled through banks grew 6.2 percent in February 2011, reaching US$1.5 billion while remittances from sea-based workers grew by 12.7 percent; from land-based workers, transfers grew by 5.5 percent. Year to date remittance as of February is at US$3.0 billion, representing a year?on?year growth of 6.9 percent.

Accordingly, the steady demand for Filipino workers abroad helped sustained remittance inflows. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration reported that 43,360 job orders were processed in the first quarter of 2011. Moreover, the continuing expansion of remittance network helped facilitate a reliable, fast, and cost-effective way of transferring money. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas maintains a positive outlook on the resiliency of remittances despite ongoing crises in the Middle East, North Africa, and Japan as other overseas labor markets may create opportunities for employment. A two-year program was recently launched to harness the utilization of remittances for local job creation and economic development.

Furthermore, the Philippine Stock Exchange index registered an affirmative performance during the shortened trading week, gaining 29.56 points to close at 4,274.77. The broader all-share index also accomplished growth of 23.16 points to close at 3,112.51. Gains were mainly attributed to the mining sector.

Likewise, according to the same published report he Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas approved a US$200 million loan from the Asian Development Bank for the Subprogram 2 of the Financial Market Regulation and Intermediation Program. The loan will be directed to the continuation of financial policy reforms, which have accounted for lessons learned from the financial crisis in 2008. Strong revenue collections and well thought out spending caused the government to expect that the budget deficit in the first quarter of the year has been within target.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue was able to collect Php2.54 billion more than its collection target of Php197.04 billion for the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs exceeded its Php63.4 billion target by Php0.6 billion. The deficit target for the first quarter was Php112 billion.

Overall, balance of payments hit a four-month record high surplus in March amounting to US$2.02 billion, pushing the first quarter surplus further to US$3.493 billion, nearly three times the US$1.276 billion surplus recorded in the same period last year. The March record was a reversal from previous month's deficit. The surplus was mainly attributed to the proceeds from the national government’s bond issues and the central bank’s foreign exchange operations, according to IDEA.

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