Govt to open window for money of migrant workers

Govt to open window for money of migrant workers
By DARWIN G. AMOJELAR, The Manila Times Reporter

The National Economic and Development Authority may push for government financial institutions to open windows that can capture savings of overseas Filipino workers.

The idea came to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto B. Santos as government tries to stem a deep impact of rising world oil prices.

On Tuesday the NEDA said it maintains its forecast of gross domestic product for the country to hit from 5.3 percent to 6.3 percent. But, Santos said in a statement, that the economy will likely grow to 5.1 percent if world oil prices continue to hover above $60 a barrel. In Asian trading at the close of the week, world oil prices have kissed the $64-a-barrel level.

Thus, Santos said he is urging OFWs, nearing a million deployed to more than 190 countries every year, to invest in government financial instruments to mitigate the expected slowdown in the economy.

Santos told The Manila Times in a telephone interview that he will recommend to GFIs to create similar financial instruments for OFWs to invest their savings.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has expected money from Filipinos abroad, not just OFWs, to rise more than the expected US$8 billion this year. That is the amount some eight million Filipinos living and working temporarily and permanently abroad sent to the Philippines through formal channels.

A BSP executive has cited that remittances as percentage of GDP from 1999 to 2004 has hit 55 percent.

Santos said in a statement that attracting OFW money is one of several measures government is pursuing to further boost economic growth. Besides this, Santos said, government also wants to pursue are increasing dollar inflows through improving tourism facilities, collaborating with private sector on the promotion of tourism, increasing remittance inflows through the banking system, "These [measures] will counteract the pressure in the exchange market," he said.

Santos added he expects such measures will help "offset the negative impact of high oil prices on economic growth [at the same time, helping insulate] the economy from the uncertainty caused by volatile oil supply and price movements."