Saturday, January 20, 2007 Roperos: OFW-dependent economy By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
THERE'S this story from a national research group about the big amount overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) had remitted to the Philippines from January to November 2006.
The total was $11.4 billion, indicating the way the country’s human exports have buoyed up the nation’s economy. The dollar inflow from direct investments was overshadowed by the dollars OFWs sent to their families from various parts of the globe.
This reality, I believe, is both a boon and bane to the Philippines. It is a boon because it helps keep this republic financially afloat, saves it from financial deficits. But it is also a bane because the country has become gravely dependent on its “human export.”
It is really a shame because we seem to have become dependent on OFWs for national survival rather than the other way around. It’s like we are sending our people to foreign lands to earn money for our funds-beleaguered government.
The remitted amount, according to Ibon Foundation, was equivalent to ten percent of the country’s gross domestic product, making the Pinoy foreign workers the biggest source of dollars for the administration.
And what is its significance to the economic policies of the Arroyo government? While President Arroyo, in her recent utterances, sounded optimistic that 2007 will be an economic boom year, there are sectors calling for caution.
The flight of Pinoy workers to foreign lands means there is lack of jobs that would give them income enough to survive decently with their loved ones. It is a condition that further indicates a slowing down of domestic investment and a slack in the entry of direct foreign investors.
Thus, the strength of the Philippine peso in the local currency market should not be considered a result of our economy’s growing strength but caused rather by the increased OFW remittances for the Yule holidays.
Indeed, a visit today to the Department of Foreign Affairs passport office showed the daily crowd of Filipinos applying for passports. They are all seeking jobs overseas, implying that the Philippine economy is not really strong and robust enough to offer jobs to them.
Some 2,000 Filipinos reportedly leave the country everyday. At the rate they are moving out, there may come a day when we will not have skilled workers left to take care of our own needs. But sadly, there is nothing we can do to entice them to stay.
In fact, even as the President said that 2007 is a “time of great hopes and expectations,” the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), in the same breath, announced a lowering of its target revenue collection this year to make up for its multi-billion shortfall in collection.
Significantly, the BIR says it is now turning its eyes on retailers, doctors and lawyers, intending to intensify its collection drive against them. The BIR fell short of its collection target of P675.4-billion last year.
On the whole, while the country enjoys a stabilizing economy at the start of the New Year, it is not really standing on solid ground. Its dependence on OFW remittances more than it does on domestic investments and direct foreign investors, maybe giving our economy an illusion of strength, rather than standing with truly strong legs on solid grounds.
