President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said the government is closely monitoring the potential impact of escalating tensions in the Middle East on remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), warning that the situation remains volatile and difficult to predict.
The President said remittances from OFWs in the Gulf region form a significant portion of the country’s dollar inflows and support millions of families in the Philippines.
“Most of our remittances really come from there, and that’s our largest working group abroad. They are not with their families, so they remit money here to the Philippines,” Mr. Marcos said in mixed Filipino and English.
He cited initial reports from Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac, estimating that around 80 to 85 percent of Filipino workers in Gulf countries continue to work despite the unrest.
According to the DMW, there are more than 1.113 million OFWs in the Middle East, with the majority of Filipinos concentrated in the five conflict-linked destinations such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
Still, he described the outlook for remittances as a “mixed bag,” noting that multiple factors could either cushion or amplify the economic effects.
“It’s very, very hard to make an estimate,” Cacdac said.
The President explained that while disruptions in employment or lower dollar earnings could reduce the actual amount sent home, movements in the peso-dollar exchange rate could offset or magnify the impact.
This is because remittances are sent in dollars, making the exchange rate a crucial variable.
“If the peso goes up, remittances increase. But if the actual dollars being sent here go down, then they will decrease,” Marcos said, adding that the government is watching currency movements closely.
