OFW remittances seen to rise 10% by Nov – study

The amount of money sent home by Filipinos overseas is seen to grow by as much as 10 percent in November, according to First Metro Investments Corp. (FMIC) and the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P).

In a study titled “RP Economy More Firmly on Goldilocks Mode,” FMIC and UA&P pointed out that remittances would continue to grow since there is a stable demand for professional and skilled Filipino workers abroad. FMIC is the investment banking arm of Metrobank.

“We see that US dollar remittances will continue its growth pace. OFWs’ US dollar remittances’ growth will probably accelerate to 10 percent by November. However, remittances in peso terms will only be slightly in the positive territory because of the peso appreciation,” FMIC and UA&P said in a joint study released to media Monday.

In 2009, remittances went up by 5.4 percent to a new record level of $17.348 billion last year from $16.426 billion a year earlier, government records showed.

OFW remittances hit a new monthly record high of $1.578 billion in May, making the amount reach $7.44 billion in the first five months of the year.

Earlier, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration reported that approved jobs aggregated 302,844 in the first half of the year.

Main country sources of remittances in the first five months of the year included the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, and Italy, accounting for about 81.5 percent of the total OFW remittances. —JE/OMG, GMANews.TV