Overseas remittances hit record high in October

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) — Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) coursed through banks rose 6.7 percent on year to a record high of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in October on continued global demand for Philippine labor, the Philippine central bank reported Tuesday.

Likewise, the damages wrought by typhoons Ketsana and Parma also forced most OFWs to send more to their affected families. This pushed OFW remittances in the January to October period to increase by 4.5 percent to 14.3 billion U.S. dollars.

The major sources of remittances are the U.S., Canada, Saudi Arabia, U.K., Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Italy, and Germany.

“The continued deployment of Filipino workers abroad, particularly skilled and higher-paid workers, has provided support to the steady flow of remittances over the ten-month period,” Philippine Central Bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said in a statement.

“Higher transfers to families whose properties were damaged by typhoons Ketsana and Parma that hit the country in late September and early October contributed to the rise in remittances,” he added.

Despite the recent financial problems in Dubai where there is a fairly large concentration of Filipino workers, Tetangco was optimistic of sustained deployment of Filipinos in the Middle East region in general as there’s demand in the construction and health care sectors.