OFW inflows up 6.9% to $1.69 B in May

MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday that the growth in remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) picked up in May expanding 6.9 percent and posting its fastest monthly growth since January amid the political tensions in the Middle East and North African (MENA) states, the disasters in Japan, and the recent decision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to stop hiring domestic helpers from the Philippines.

In a statement, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the amount of money sent home by Filipinos abroad to their loved ones in the Philippines reached $1.688 billion in May or $110 million higher than the $1.578 billion in the same period last year.

The BSP said the 6.9-percent growth in OFW remittances in May was the fastest since January when it rose 7.6 percent while the amount was the second highest versus the record monthly remittance of $1.694 billion recorded in December last year.

“For the month of May alone, remittances rose by 6.9 percent to reach $1.7 billion, the second highest level since December 2010 when a record-high level was realized,” Tetangco said.

He pointed out that remittances climbed 6.2 percent to $7.898 billion in the first five months of the year from $7.438 billion a year ago.

“The steady inflow of cash transfers from overseas Filipinos was due to increased remittances from both sea-based and land-based workers, which rose by 21.4 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively,” Tetangco added.

The BSP chief explained that major sources of remittances from January to May were the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Italy, and Germany. 

Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that Filipino workers continued to be deployed abroad, offsetting the job losses resulting from social unrest in the MENA region and the disasters that occurred in Japan. 

In particular, POEA data indicated that the total number of deployed overseas workers grew by 3.4 percent to 1.47 million in 2010 from 1.42 million in 2009. Of the total deployed overseas workers that includes new hires and rehires, 76.4 percent were land-based workers.

In addition, prospective employment opportunities are expected to rise as the POEA also reported that approved job orders reached 330,498 in the first half of the year. Of this number, about 33.3 percent or 110,018 were already processed while 66.7 percent or 220,480 are still to be filled up.

The POEA said the job orders were intended for the manpower requirements in United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Taiwan and Hong Kong, among other countries for production, service, professional, technical and other related workers.