Money sent home by migrant Filipino workers Filipinos in November rose 3.2 percent to $2.19 billion from $2.122 billion year-on-year, on sustained demand for local skilled workers abroad, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.
The November expansion was a recovery from an almost flat growth of 0.2 percent in October, bringing cash remittances in the first 11 months of 2015 to $22.83 billion, up 3.6 percent from $22.031 billion a year ago.
Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, improved from the 0.2-percent expansion a month ago, growing 3 percent to $2.416 billion from $2.346 billion a year ago. This brought the year-to-date level to $25.249 billion, up 3.4 percent from $24.410 billion a year ago.
“The steady growth in personal remittances was supported by the sustained increase of remittances from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more [by 4 percent] and from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year [by 2.5 percent],” Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a statement.
The bulk of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and Hong Kong. Combined remittances from these countries accounted for more than 79 percent of total cash remittances that were reported by banks.
“The continued deployment of skilled OF workers remained a key driver of growth in remittance inflows. Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showed that for the period January to November 2015, total job orders reached 771,635, of which 44 percent have been processed,” Tetangco said.
The job orders were intended mainly for service, production and professional, technical and related workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The presence of banks and non-bank remittance service providers in foreign countries through tie-ups and remittance centers, as well as the introduction of innovations in their remittance products, provided support to the steady stream of remittance inflows for the period.
Remittances fuel private consumption and one of the backbones of economic growth. In 2014, cash remittances posted a record-high $24.308 billion, 5.8-percent higher than the $22.968 billion in 2013. They also accounted for 8.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2014.
Bangko Sentral in 2015 aimed for a 4-percent growth in remittances and kept the target this year.
British bank Standard Chartered said in a report a modest pick-up in remittances was expected in the latter part of 2015, in line with historical trends.
Tetangco earlier said the tensions between Middle Eastern countries Saudi Arabia and Iran could temporarily affect the volume of remittances from migrant Filipino workers.
But he said based on experiences from past regional conflicts, Filipino workers were able to find ways of sending back money to their families in the Philippines and work in other areas that are safer from conflict.