MANILA – Remittances from Filipino workers abroad have reached US$2.5 billion in October – increasing by 6.9% from the same month last year – and on a year-to-date basis, grew by 6.7% to US$22 billion, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr.
He said personal remittances continued to draw strength from the sustained rise in transfers from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more (5.6%) as well as sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year (8.1%).
Similarly, he said, cash remittances coursed through banks in October 2014 increased by 7% year-on-year to US$2.2 billion. This brought the cumulative cash remittances for the period January–October 2014 to US$19.9 billion, higher by 6.2% compared to US$18.7 billion last year.
Tetangco said cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers reached US$15.2 billion and US$4.7 billion, respectively. The bulk of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and Canada.
He said the steady demand for skilled and professional Filipino manpower supported the growth in remittance inflows.
Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration indicated that for the period January-October 2014, job orders reached 768,741, of which 39.8% were processed job orders intended for service, production, and professional, technical and related workers in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Taiwan, and Qatar.
In addition, the continued efforts of bank and non-bank remittance service providers to expand their international and domestic market coverage, and introduce innovations in financial products and services in the remittance market contributed to the sustained inflow of remittances. (Mindanao Examiner)
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