Remittance growth slows in June

GROWTH in remittances sent home by Flipinos living and working abroad slowed to a 15-month low in June, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

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Cash remittances, which are coursed through banks, summed up to $1.811 billion in June, rising by 4.2% from $1.737 billion a year earlier. It was slowest uptick since a 4.1% rise in March 2011.

On a cumulative basis, remittances rose by 5.1% to $10.128 billion in the first half, approximating the central bank’s 5% growth forecast for the year.

Remittances rose by 7.2% to $20.117 billion in 2011.

In explaining the continued, albeit slower, rise in remittances, the BSP said: “The sustained growth in the deployment of OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) was the key contributory factor to the upswing seen in remittance flows.”

It noted that preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed workers deployed overseas totaled 1.688 million in 2011, a 15% climb from the 1.471 million in the previous year.

Moreover, POEA data showed approved job orders in the seven months to July this year had reached 472,261. The bulk were for Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Taiwan.

Cash remittances for the first half came primarily from land-based workers ($7.8 billion). Most of the fund transfers came from the US (42.8%).

“While cash remittances from most countries in the euro area (e.g., Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, among others) posted downtrends… [due to the] sovereign debt and banking crisis, higher remittances were registered in some countries in the non-euro area, notably the United Kingdom,” the BSP said. –Businessworld