Dec remittances likely up 9%, says Barclays

MANILA, Philippines - Money sent home by Filipinos living and working abroad likely increased by an annual nine percent in December, UK-based investment bank Barclays said.

“We expect favorable seasonality and the impact of Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) to boost remittances in December,” the bank said in a research note.

The nine-percent growth would be the fastest the country has seen so far after December 2012’s 9.7 percent.

Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show large inflows of remittances are generally seen in December versus other months in the year due to the celebration of Christmas.

But recent natural calamities – Typhoons Santi and Yolanda, and the 7.2-magnitude earthquake – that struck the country late last year have started pushing remittances above the $2-billion mark since October.

Official December remittances data is scheduled to be released by the central bank on Monday, Feb. 17.

Funds sent home by Filipinos abroad rose 7.5 percent to $2.063 billion in November, a fresh monthly peak for remittances.

This brought remittances to $20.605 billion in the 11 months to November, up 6.1 percent from the same period in 2012.

The central bank has said the steady deployment of Filipinos abroad is the reason behind the robust inflow of remittances.

The BSP expects remittances to have grown by five percent in 2013 over 2012’s $21.391 billion. This year, remittances are seen increasing by another five percent.