RemittancesGateway.org

Philippines' April remittances up 6.3 pct on yr

Wednesday, 15 June 2011 16:59

Source: Reuters
By: Karen Lema

* April remittances at $1.62 bln, flat vs March

* Jan-April remittances at $6.2 bln

The Philippine central bank released on Wednesday data on April remittances from Filipinos overseas:

KEY DATA Remittances Apr Mar Feb Jan Dec Nov yr/yr change (pct) 6.3 4.1 6.2 7.6 8.1 10.5 in $bln 1.62 1.62 1.50 1.48 1.69 1.61

KEY POINTS:

- Remittances in the first four months of the year reached $6.2 billion, up 6 percent from a year ago.

- The central bank cut its growth forecast for remittances this year to 7 percent from an original estimate of 8 percent. Remittance growth is seen to slow further to 5 percent next year.

- Remittances for the whole of 2010 reached a record $18.76 billion, up 8.2 percent from a year earlier. The country is one of the world's biggest recipients of remittances.

- Remittances from around 10 million Filipinos living and working overseas -- about one-tenth of the population -- provide support to the peso and drives consumption in the Philippine economy.

- The economy grew a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent in the first quarter from the previous three months, picking up from fourth-quarter growth of 0.5 percent. But annual growth slowed to 4.9 percent from 6.1 percent in the fourth quarter.

- The government is targeting economic growth of 7 to 8 percent this year, but economists in a Reuters poll in April expected growth to slow to 5.4 percent.

LINKS: - For details, central bank website www.bsp.gov.ph