OFW remittances hit record $1.5B in June
Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) through banks hit an all-time high of $1.5 billion in June, up 30 percent from a year earlier, reflecting a strong season for remittances for school year opening.
The January-June total reached $8.2 billion, up 17.2 percent from the same period last year, said Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. of the central bank.
Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Tetangco said OFWs sent abroad in the six months increased 33.5 percent to 640,401 as compared with the same period last year.
“Filipino workers continue to be in strong demand overseas due to the diversity and quality of skills they offer,” Tetangco said.
“The conduct of bilateral talks with host countries also continues to open up new employment opportunities abroad for Filipinos,” he said.
The major sources of remittances were the US, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The level of remittances has also drawn strong support from the expanded presence of local banks and non-bank remittance agents in countries with large concentration of overseas Filipinos, as they forged stronger partnerships and tie-ups with foreign counterparts, Tetangco said.
“These initiatives increased the access of overseas Filipinos both to more financial institutions as well as to a wider array of financial products,” he said.
Since May 2006, remittances from OFWs have exceeded $1 billion a month. The level in June was the highest recorded since the central bank started classifying foreign exchange inflows from OFWs as a separate category in its statistical monitoring system.
The growth rate in June was the fastest since April last year, when remittances surged 33 percent.
The central bank data do not include remittances through the “informal channels,” defined as unlicensed or unregulated operations such as personal couriers. According to central bank estimates, this so-called leakage in the remittance pipeline has gone down to five percent of total inflows from a high of 30 percent two to three years ago.
Edited by INQUIRER.net
No Comments, Comment or Ping
Reply to “OFW remittances hit record $1.5B in June”