OFW remittances up 11.3% in November

MANILA, Philippines – Money sent home by Filipinos abroad accelerated to its fastest level in 14 months due to the continued deployment of skilled workers abroad, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. reported yesterday.

Tetangco said remittances from overseas Filipinos grew by 11.3 percent to $1.459 billion in November last year from $1.311 billion in the same month in 2008.

He pointed out that this was the highest year-on-year expansion since October 2008 when overseas Filipino workers’ remittances jumped by 16.9 percent.

“The continued deployment of skilled Filipino workers abroad has remained the driving force behind the steady stream of remittance flows,” Tetangco said.

He added that the higher transfer of funds in November could also be partly attributed to the strong support of OFWs to the rebuilding efforts of families and relatives whose properties were damaged by tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng.

In all, OFW remittances climbed by 5.1 percent to $15.78 billion as of end-November last year from $15.019 billion as of end-November in 2008. Major sources of remittances were the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Italy, and Germany.

The BSP chief also attributed the strong growth to the continued expansion of remittance transfer facilities that has helped capture a large share of the global remittance market.

“The enhancement of commercial banks’ operations overseas and the introduction of new products and services have continued in addressing the banking needs of overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries,” Tetangco said.

The number of commercial banks’ established tie-ups, remittance centers, correspondent banks, and branches or representative offices abroad increased to 4,153 as of end-September last year from 3,015 as of end-2008.

The growth in the first 11 months of last year already surpassed the revised four percent growth being eyed by the BSP. It expects OFW remittances to grow four percent to a record level of $17.1 billion in 2009 from $16.4 billion in 2008.

The central bank was originally looking at a zero growth but later revised the outlook due to the steady deployment of Filipino workers abroad and the increase access to formal remittance channels.

OFW remittances are expected to grow faster at six percent next year especially with the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the BSP and member banks of the Association of Bank Remittance Officers Inc. (ABROI).

The agreement calls for the use of the central bank’s Philippine Payments and Settlements Systems (PhilPaSS) to send the remitted money to the beneficiaries’ accounts in other banks.

OFW families are expected to save at least P92 million to as high as P922 million due to the faster and cheaper delivery of remittances to the beneficiaries at a lower rate of P50 per transaction instead of the current range of between P100 and P550 per transaction. –Lawrence Agcaoili (The Philippine Star)