RemittancesGateway.org

Remittances surge by 7.8% in first two months of 2010

Friday, 16 April 2010 09:06

Source: Business World

Money sent home by Filipinos working and living abroad continued to mount, totaling $2.8 billion as of February, 7.8% higher than in the same two-month period a year ago.

Remittances for the month of February alone, data by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipina (BSP) showed, summed up to $1.4 billion, 7.1% higher year-on-year.

These inflows are vital to the Philippine economy, which is principally propped by consumer spending. Recipients of remittances ” the families of overseas Filipino workers ” spend the funds on their basic necessities as well as on education and shelter. “The strong remittance flows during the two-month period were shored up mainly by the continued strong demand for professional and skilled professional Filipino overseas workers as global employment opportunities continued to be favorable, combined with the wider access to expanded money transfer services to migrant workers and their beneficiaries,” the BSP said in a statement.

More than four-fifths of the remittances came from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Italy.

The BSP expects remittances to grow by 6% this year, but will likely change this projection given the stronger-than-expected figures in the first few months.

Last year, remittances grew by 5.6% to$17.1 billion, which was faster than the central bank’s projection of 4% expansion.