An economist said on Monday that the war between Israel and Hamas will have little effect on remittances from Filipino workers in the Middle East.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort told Manila Standard remittances from Filipinos working in Israel reached $66.7 million from January to July this year, or 0.5 percent of the total remittances for the period.
He said that in 2022, remittances from Israel amounted to $110.6 million, or 0.3 percent of the total, based on data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Ricafort said, however, “there might be some reduction of new OFW deployment.”
“The impact on remittances could be manageable since there are many caregivers/domestic helpers in Israel and in nearby Middle Eastern countries,” Ricafort said.
“They are the last to go… Provided [that] no evacuations or repatriation back to the country,” Ricafort said.
Ricafort said Israel has a good track record in managing conflict as seen in recent years. He said, however, that many flights or tours were cancelled for now to the Holy Land.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to locate and account for all Filipinos in Israel, where attacks by the Palestinian group Hamas on Saturday triggered Israeli airstrikes over the Gaza Strip.
Hamas launched a massive surprise attack at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets into Israel and its fighters entered Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip, killing residents and taking hostages. The attacks prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare war on Hamas, ordering airstrikes that killed hundreds in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave.
There are about 30,000 Filipinos in Israel, according to the government’s estimates.
Latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed that cash remittances in July 2023 rose 2.6 percent to $2.99 billion from $2.92 billion posted in the same month last year. This brought cash remittances in the first seven months to $18.79 billion, a 2.9-percent increase from $18.26 billion registered in the same period last year.
The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first seven months of 2023, the BSP said.
Cash remittances rose 3.6 percent in 2022 to a record $32.54 billion from $31.42 billion in 2021 on sustained demand for skilled Filipino workers overseas.
The Bangko Sentral expects remittances to grow 3 percent in 2023.