Friday, November 16, 2007 OFW remittances surge to $10.5B in Jan-Sept
REMITTANCES from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks surged 15 percent to $10.5 billion in the first nine months of the year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Thursday.
In a statement posted on its website, the central bank said better banking services led to the spike in remittances.
"Remittances have remained strong as local banks continued to provide expanded banking services to remitters and their beneficiaries, thus encouraging the use of formal channels of remittance transfer," the BSP said.
"Moreover, local banks have been increasing the number of remittance centers abroad and establishing tie-ups with foreign financial institutions to better respond to the needs of overseas workers," it added.
According to the BSP, the remittance network of local banks has increased to 3,939 in 2006 from only 1,183 in 2005.
For September, OFW remittances grew 12.4 percent from a year earlier to $1.1 billion, the seventeenth straight month that remittances have surpassed the $1.0 billion mark.
The central bank said the increase was partly due to a growth in the number of deployed workers in September, which rose 8.7 percent.
Citing preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the BSP said the number of deployed land-based workers increased by 3.2 percent to 70,023, while the number of sea-based workers deployed rose 29.2 percent to 23,461.
The BSP also said remittances came largely from the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.
