MANILA – Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sent home to their families a total of $1.5 billion, the highest monthly remittance level recorded so far since the country started deploying OFWs in 1970s, according to the head of the Central Bank (CB) of the Philippines.
Amando Tetangco, the CB governor, reported the October figure was equivalent to a 3.7 percent growth from the remittance level of $1.4 billion in September.
As a result, the total OFW remittances for the first 10 months of 2009 reached $14.3 billion, which represented a 4.5 percent jump from the same period recorded in 2008, Tetangco added.as he emphasized:
“Remittances in October were buoyed by the seasonal pick-up in inflows during the fourth quarter to pay for semestral education expenses of the families of OFWs. In addition, high transfers to families whose properties were damaged by typhoons ‘Ondoy’ and ‘Pepeng” contributed to the rise in remittances.”
Typhoon Ondoy (international codename Ketsana) brought record rainfall on September 26 that inundated Metro Manila and neighboring provinces in Central and Southern Luzon, considered the worst in 40 years.
It was followed a week later by Pepeng (international codename Parma) that brought similar heavy damage to life, property and infrastructure, particularly in the Cordillera Administrative Region in the Northern Luzon highlands as well as the lowland provinces in the region.
Government figures put the total number of OFWs at more than eight million whose remittances have helped prop up the country’s economy especially during the hard and difficult times like today’s ongoing global economic and financial crunch.
According to Tetangco, the remittances from both land- and sea-based workers expanded from January to October this year. Major remittance sources, he said, were Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East; US and Canada in North America; Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany in Europe; as well as neighboring countries like Japan, Singapore and Taiwan.
He added the continued deployment of OFWs, particularly skilled and higher-paid workers, has provided support to the steady flow of remittances over the 10-month period.
At the same time, the Department of Labor and Employment, Tetangco pointed out, has put in place measures to assist OFWs who might be displaced by the debt crisis being experienced in Dubai by finding alternative employment in other areas of the UAE as well as in Qatar and Oman.
This developed as the London-based Capital Economics Limited is projecting that OFW remittances will grow by seven to nine percent in 2010 on the back of the global recovery from the ongoing economic and financial turmoil.
In a report, called “Emerging Asia Economic Update,” the research firm said OFW remittances in 2010 would be almost double the five percent growth projected for this year.
The Central Bank sees OFW remittances increasing by four percent to a record high of $17.1 billion this year from the previous all-time high of $16.4 billion in 2008.
The report pointed out that OFW remittances would continue to boost the Philippine economy which is expected to grow by 4.5 percent next year, thus firming up their status as the “new national heroes” as they are depicted by the government.
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