RemittancesGateway.org

Philippines: Remittances up 10.6% to $1.78b

Tuesday, 17 January 2012 09:46

Source: Manila Standard Today
by: Roderick T. dela Cruz

The Money sent home by Filipinos abroad rose 10 percent to a record $1.78 billion in November 2011, fueling household spending that made up for the government’s lackluster spending to support economic growth.

“This monthly level of remittances is the highest on record thus far,” Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr said.

The November figure was up 10.6 percent from $1.67 billion in November 2010, and it brought the total remittances in the year through November 2011 to $18.3 billion, up 7.3 percent from the year before. The figure is in line with the central bank’s growth forecast of 7 percent for the whole of 2011.

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“The double-digit growth in remittance flows during the month could be attributed to additional funds sent by overseas Filipinos to their families for holiday spending,” Tetangco said.

Remittances, which account for about a 10th of the gross national income, support consumer spending in the Philippines, which represent about two-third sof the gross domestic product.

GDP growth slowed to 3.2 percent in the third quarter, supported by remittances and personal consumption expenditure. It offset the negative growth in government infrastructure spending.

Filipino seafarers, in particular, increased their remittances by 15.8 percent in November, faster than the 9.3-percent growth in the money sent by land-based workers.

The United States remained the top origin of Filipino remittances, followed by Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Italy, Germany and Norway.

British investment bank Barclays Capital said the remittances were expected to continue to grow given the signs of stabilization in global activity indicators and a low base.

But the World Bank said the growth in remittances might slow to 3.0 percent in 2012 and 5.0 percent in 2013 given the various problems in other countries.

The Bangko Sentral’s own projection of just a 5.0-percent increase in remittances in 2012 would represent a slowdown from the 7.3-percent expansion in the 11 months to November 2011.

The central bank said a sustained overseas demand for Filipino manpower helped support the flows of remittances in 2011 despite the various external challenges, even as the US and many economies in Europe continued to face difficult economic conditions.

Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration indicated that the number of Filipino workers with processed contracts and awaiting deployment increased to 1,370,584 in the period January-September 2011, up from 1,311,437 a year earlier.

The agency said the approved job orders for January-December 2011 reached 711,238, of which about 40 percent consisted of processed job orders for service, production and professional, technical and related workers.

The bulk of the approved job orders were mainly for job placements in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Taiwan.