Overseas Pinoys break remittance record at $1.8B

Friday, December 16, 2011

REMITTANCES from overseas Filipinos (OFs) coursed through banks rose to US$1.8 billion in October 2011, higher by 6.2 percent than the level posted in the same month a year ago.

This is the highest monthly level of remittances recorded thus far, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement.

As a result, cumulative remittances for January-October 2011 reached US$16.5 billion, registering a year-on-year expansion of seven percent, BSP Gov. Amando M. Tetangco Jr. announced.

For the 10-month period, remittances sent by land-based workers composed about four-fifths (78.6 percent) of total cash transfers at US$13.0 billion.

Sea-based workers’ remittances contributed 21.4 percent at US$3.5 billion. The top 10 country sources of remittances included the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Italy, Germany, and Norway.
11.6 percent more job orders

Despite the challenges posed by global economic and financial headwinds, the continued strong demand for Filipino workers abroad, particularly skilled manpower, provided support to the stream of remittance flows.

Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that for January-November 2011, the number of approved job orders rose to 645,775. This reflected an 11.6 percent increase over the total approved job orders (578,535) in the same period last year.

The processed job orders consisted of job openings for production, service, as well as professional, technical and related workers. The bulk of these processed job orders were from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Taiwan, Kuwait and Hong Kong.

The higher level of remittances in October could also be due to higher cash transfers by overseas Filipinos to their beneficiaries who were affected by typhoons Quiel and Pedring that occurred in the latter part of September 2011.

Meanwhile, the continued expansion in the number of banks, other financial institutions, and telecommunication companies that offer a wide range of money transfer services and financial products has also encouraged higher remittances from overseas Filipinos. (BSP)

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 17, 2011.