By Jun Vallecera
Reporter
THE remittances of millions of overseas Filipino workers poured inward in excess of $1 billion in September—or for five consecutive months already—pushing the nine-month total further to $ 9.11 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Wednesday.
This was some 14 percent higher than year-ago total of only $7.96 billion, BSP governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said.
Assuming the volume of remittance was sustained, the BSP said the full-year remittance could hit $12 billion or 12 percent more than year ago total remittance of $10.7 billion.
If only the September remittance is reckoned with, however, the flows actually rose at a slower pace for a second month in September as fewer people took overseas jobs, according to Bloomberg.
Money sent back to the Philippines increased 14 percent in September to $1.01 billion from a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement posted on its web site.
Remittances rose 15 percent in August, slowing from July’s 16-percent gain. May remittances of $1.14 billion were the highest since Bloomberg started tracking the payments in 1989.
The original expectation was for OFW remittances this year to hit $11.9 billion or growth of only 11 percent.
Tetangco said the steady climb in remittances in the first nine months was the result of continued deployment of Filipino workers in various workplaces around the world and to increasing access to efficient modes of sending their hard-earned dollars back to families in the Philippines.
While some countries have oil revenues boosting their economies, the Philippines has a dependable and growing supply of skilled and reliable people that help boost the country’s external sector.
Its many benefits include the priming of consumer spending that helped boost the growth potential and supported the value of the peso that allowed the economy as a whole to cushion the debilitating impact of rising oil prices.
The banks have since come up with innovative products designed to capture the attention of often financially unsophisticated OFWs and invest a portion of their income rather than spend them all in cars and consumer items.
With the expectation that the government would borrow less from the banks next year than they used to in the past, bank executives realize there is a whole lot to be made from the OFW market.
Philippine Savings Bank president Pascual Garcia III had said competing for the attention of the OFWs and their money has already started in earnest and expect next year’s banking activities to be “tougher than in the past.”
“The banks with the most number of OFW clients stand to make more profits,” Pascual said.
OFW deployment in the first nine months grew nearly 10 percent versus growth of only 7.9 percent last year, driven higher by the 9.9-percent growth in the deployment of land-based workers to 657,942 and by another 8.8-percent growth in sea-based workers to 198,924.
The outlook on sea-based OFW deployment is brighter than usual on account of Japan’s decision to build 600 new ships until 2010 and crew them with Filipino seamen, the BSP said.
Business Mirror
November 16, 2006
No comments:
Post a Comment