Recruiters: OFWs must be allowed to deposit foreign currencies

IN A bid to address the weakening buying power of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families, the recruitment industry is now calling on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to allow commercial banks to accept foreign currency accounts.

In a statement, recruitment consultant Lito Soriano said it might be a good idea for the BSP to allow OFWs to open multi-currency deposits in order to save all the possible amounts during their remittance of earnings to the country.

“OFWs paid in local currencies and not in dollars still have to go to banks or remittance centers to have their salaries converted into dollars for transmission to the Philippines and this is where a small amount is lost during that transaction,” said Soriano.

“Allowing banks to accept foreign currency deposits will keep the value of the currency intact and can be converted into pesos directly by the depositor,” he added.

Soriano said that, if granted, this would mean that OFWs can now deposit local currency earnings like Riyals, Dirham’s, EU, Pounds, HK dollars, NT dollars, Malaysian Ringit and all other foreign currencies.

He also called on the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) to help them convince the BSP to allow such a scheme.

Soriano said such a proposal would certainly benefit OFWs, especially at a time when their purchasing powers have decreased by at least 27 percent since 2004.

“The dollar has lost 27 percent of its value and has greatly impacted millions of OFW families. OFW families now have to tighten their belts in order to cope up with the rising appreciation of the peso eating into their dollar remittances,” said Soriano.

With the current exchange rate at P40 to $1, the peso has drastically gone down from P55 to $1 in 2004.

The statement came after reports came out quoting BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo saying that OFWs are less affected by the stronger peso. (HDT/Sunnex)