 |
 |
|
|
       |
OFW remittances surge to $6.3B |
|
(December 16, 2003 - Tuesday, Philippine Daily Inquirer)
by Clarissa S. Batino THE DOLLAR inflow from more than seven million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reached 6.336 billion dollars in the January-October period, up 5.7 percent from 5.996 billion dollars in the same months last year despite a 10-percent decrease in Filipinos who left for foreign jobs, central bank data showed. |
|
In October alone, dollar remittances amounted to 673 million dollars, up 11 percent from 607 million a year earlier and 12.3 percent from 560 million in September, the data showed.
"Once again, our global workers have delivered to make up for the shortfall in foreign direct investments, portfolio investments, and even exports," Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Rafael Buenaventura said in an interview. Buenaventura said he was confident that OFW income remittances would reach the target growth of six percent to 7.6 billion dollars by yearend and eight billion dollars at end-2004. OFW income remittances not also help stabilize the peso by providing a steady supply of dollars in the spot market but also prop up the economy through consumption and investments, Buenaventura noted. "We hope our OFWs will sustain the trend and continue to perk up consumption by way of spending for housing and education as well as investment in small and medium-scale businesses," he said. The remittances normally peak in November and December as OFWs send money to their families for Christmas spending. Buenaventura said there was an increase in OFW who left for higher-paying jobs, like professionals and service workers, which cushioned the decrease in total OFW deployment in January-October. The land-based workers deployed decreased 13.2 percent to 520,597 in the 10-month period. Sea-based workers increased 1.3 percent to 178,094. The number of new hires and re-hires fell 9.9 percent from 698,691 in January-October last year. The labor department is targeting deployment of a million Filipinos to overseas jobs this year. In 2002, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the number of new hires and re-hires reached 891,908 from 867,599 in 2001. The improving global situation capped by the capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein should also lead to increased deployment in the future as it would encourage Filipinos anew to look for job opportunities in the Middle East, a region that was avoided in the first half when the US-Iraq war broke out. The BSP has estimated that more than five billion dollars in OFW money remittances through informal channels, such as couriers and moneychangers -- rather than banks -- escapes tracking by the government. The major sources of OFW income remittances in January-October were the United States, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, according to the BSP data. home | latest news |
 |
Circular Letters/Memoranda |
|
Speeches/ Presentations |
|
Photo Gallery |
|
The 2008 RBAP Charter Symposium |
|
2008 CFI Awards |
|
Rural Banking Week Celebration Golf Tournament |
|
Client Satisfaction Survey for Licensing Management System of the Supervision and Examination Sector |
|
Financial Reporting Package 2008 |
|
BSP releases regulations on liquidity, market risk weighting |
