Remittances continue to grow despite crisis

Remittances continued to post a modest increase in the first six months, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Monday.

In a statement, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) grew by 2.9 percent year-on-year to a fresh record of $8.479 billion in the first semester on steady deployment of Filipino workers abroad.

Steady remittances have allowed the Philippines to escape a recession so far this year, and enabled the country to build up its dollar cache amid a global financial crisis.

Moody’s Investors Service earlier raised the country’s credit score a notch on the resilience of these dollar inflows despite weak foreign investments and slumping exports.

In June alone, remittances grew 3.3 percent to $1.498 billion from $1.450 billion in the same month last year.

The June increase, however, is lower than the 3.7 percent in May.

“The continued growth of remittance flows since January this year accompanied by emerging signs of improving global economic conditions have affirmed the positive outlook for steady remittances,” Tetangco said.

The major sources of the money were the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UK, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Germany.

Tetangco said the sustained growth of remittances was driven by the continued foreign demand for highly skilled and professional Filipinos and wider access of overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries to banks.

Remittances from sea- and land-based workers posted gains of 4.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.

The deployment of Filipino workers is seen to remain steady in the coming months after the government’s efforts to market local talent in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia, and South Korea.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) is also exploring employment opportunities for Filipino workers in Algeria, Chad, Malta and Morocco particularly in the hotel, oil and gas, and technical service sectors.

POEA also reported that the employment of production workers in Taiwan would be facilitated starting August this year through the special hiring program for that market.

The government’s strong support for OFWs in crisis-affected countries has also resulted in the deceleration in the displacement rate, the BSP said.

The BSP is keeping its conservative flat growth target this year from $16.4 billion for this year.

Fitch Ratings Inc. earlier said remittances would decline by 6.8 percent this year.

Remittances contribute 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), an indicator of economic performance.  –Maricel E. Burgonio, Senior Reporter, Manila Times