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By APD Writer Melo M. Acuna
MANILA, Sept. 15 (APD) – Filipinos residing overseas sent US$ 2.6 billion in July 2017 which showed an increase of 8.7 percent year-on-year.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas officer-in-charge Diwa C. Guinigundo said the cumulative personal remittances from overseas Filipinos for the period January – July 2017 rose by 5.9 percent and reached US$ 17.9 billion.
“The steady growth in personal remittances came from remittance inflows from land-based Filipino workers with work contracts of one year or more, amounting to US 13.8 billion along with compensation of sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term work contracts which reached US 3.6 billion,” Mr. Gunigundo said in a statement released today.
Cash remittances coursed through banks, aggregating US$ 2.3 billion in July 2017, were higher by 7.1% than the level recorded in the same month last year.
The cash remittances from land-based workers amounted to US 1.8 billion posted 6.8 percent growth while sea-based workers sent US 05 billion showed 8.4 percent growth.
The primary contributors during the month are the United States with 3.3 percentage points contribution to growth, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 1.1 percentage points, Singapore with 0.8 percentage point, and Japan with 0.6 percentage point.
On a year-to-date basis, cash remittances posted 5.0% growth, reaching US$ 16.1 billion in January to July 2017.
The cash remittances from land-based workers summed up to US$12.8 billion while sea-based workers contributed US$ 3.3 billion.
It was learned cash remittances from the United States, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Japan, United Kingdom, Qatar, Kuwait, Germany and Hong Kong comprised nearly 80 percent of the total cash remittances during the first seven months of 2017.
Despite the economic slowdown, the demand for skilled Filipino workers abroad remained stable.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration reported to have deployedd 1,222,003 workers from January to July this year which translates to some 58 percent of the total number of Filipino workers deployed for the year 2016 which reached 2,112,331.
This translates to roughly 5,764 Filipinos leaving the country for overseas work everyday.
Meanwhile, IBON Research reported a little less than 9% of GDP comes from foreign remittances.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
