OFWs seen spending $1.35B to remit $10B back home this year
The Philippine Star 07/18/2005
Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will spend a staggering $1.35 billion this year just to pay for the remittance services that will bring an estimated $10 billion to their families here, a senior member of Congress said.
Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas said the aggregate annual cost of OFW remittances was based on an International Monetary Fund (IMF) study, which put at 13.5 percent the average transaction cost for money transfers to the
OFWs pay anywhere from $15 to $26 for a typical $200-remittance, according to a separate
"If global remittance charges are just cut into half, it could mean up to $675 million in cost-savings that could go into the pockets of hundreds of thousands of low-income Filipino families struggling to make both ends meet," Gullas pointed out.
"This, apart from the fact that $675 million is a lot of foreign exchange that could help the country stave off a full-blown financial crisis," Gullas said, adding that the Philippines needs about $5 billion to refinance its foreign debt this year.
The Department of Labor and Employment expects OFW remittances to hit a record $10 billion this year, $1.5 billion or 17.6 percent over the $8.5 billion posted in 2004.
From January to May this year, OFW remittances had hit $3.95 billion, up $650 million or 19.2 percent from the $3.3 billion posted in the same period last year.
Gullas said the
The
In all, 90 developing countries got a total of $126 billion worth of remittances in 2004, according to the IMF.
The
Gullas, meanwhile, stressed the need for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas "to take deliberate steps" to build up competition that would drive down the remittance charges of local banks and other money transfer agents.
He cited the case of one large publicly listed local bank that netted at least P2 billion in remittance fees last year. "In some cases, the remittance charges collected by local banks are just too onerous," Gullas said.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
OFWs seen spending $1.35B to remit $10B back home this year
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