Remittances defy global slowdown, rise by 3.7%

FILIPINOS working abroad sent more money home in May as more of them found jobs as nurses, sailors and housekeepers.

Money sent back to the Philippines increased 3.7 percent to $1.48 billion from a year earlier, the Bangko Sentral said, and despite a drop in the money sent from the United States. Remittances grew 2.2 percent in April.

Remittances for the first five months reached $6.98 billion or 2.8 percent higher than that sent a year ago, the central bank said.

Remittances from the United States fell 11.73 percent over the same period to $2.896 billion from $3.281 billion a year ago, with remittances from land-based workers shrinking 9.55 percent to $2.227 billion and those from sea-based workers falling 18.27 percent to $669.72 million.

The central bank said the remittance flows were underpinned by the steady demand for Filipino workers abroad, specifically professional and skilled workers.

With the steady demand for Filipino labor in Asia, remittances from the region expanded 17.42 percent to $875.2 million. Remittances from land-based workers grew 10.88 percent to $660.85 million, and remittances from sea-based workers rose 43.55 percent to $214.36 million.

Remittances from the Middle East grew 6.14 percent to $1.068 billion from a year ago, with transfers from land-based workers growing 5.88 percent to $1.059 billion and those from sea-based workers increasing 47.87 percent to $8.99 million.

Despite the huge impact of the global recession on Singapore, remittances from the Filipinos there grew 33.08 percent to $278.68 million in the year to May from a year ago.

Remittances from Australia and New Zealand also expanded, and by 24.8 percent to $66.8 million and 190 percent to $5.6 million, respectively.

“Despite the relatively weak economic environment, the Philippine government’s intensified efforts to assist retrenched overseas workers have contributed to the deceleration in the rise in the number of displaced [Filipino workers abroad],” the central bank said.

The monetary authority said demand for Filipino workers was expected to hold up as government forged hiring agreements with host countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia and Japan.

The central bank noted that the Labor Department had signed a deal with South Korea that should result in 5,000 more jobs for Filipinos in that country’s manufacturing industry and other sectors in the next 10 months.

It said the Labor Department had also started talks with Libya for the recruitment of about 4,000 Filipino medical workers.

Remittances, which account for more than a 10th of the Philippines’ $144-billion economy, help finance purchases of homes, mobile phones and other goods, reducing the impact of a global recession that has slashed exports.

The central bank said in a July 1 newsletter that its forecast that inflows would grow this year “is turning out to be relatively conservative.” –Eileen A. Mencias , Manila Standard Today with Bloomberg