Remittances soar to $1.9B in January

MANILA -- Personal remittances from overseas Filipinos (OFs) rose year-on-year to $1.9 billion in January this year due to steady demand for skills and professional Filipino workers abroad, the central bank said Friday.

The January remittances were 8.4 percent higher than the year-ago level of $1.7 billion, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said.

"These flows consisted primarily of transfers from land-based overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) with work contracts of one year or more as well as those from sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts," he said.

Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks also climbed by eight percent to reach $1.7 billion in January 2013 relative to the $1.6 billion level recorded in the same month last year, the central bank chief said.

Strong inflows of remittances were observed from both sea-based and land-based workers, who sent $412 million and $1.3 billion, respectively.

The major sources of remittances last January were the United States accounting for 38.9 percent of total cash remittances, followed by Canada (11.0 percent), Saudi Arabia (7.6 percent), the United Kingdom (5.3 percent), the United Arab Emirates (4.7 percent), Singapore (3.9 percent), and Japan (3.8 percent).

"Remittances were sustained on account of the steady demand for skilled and professional Filipino workers abroad as well as the continued expansion of remittance service providers’ global market coverage," Tetangco said.

The introduction of new financial products and services has also contributed considerably in addressing the remittance needs of overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries, he added.

Preliminary data obtained from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) indicated an expanding base of remitters worldwide as the total number of deployed overseas workers for 2012 grew by 6.7 percent to 1,800,465 from 1,687,831 a year ago. SDR/Sunnex)