Remittances up by 8.1%

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MANILA – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas yesterday said that remittances from overseas Filipino workers in September increased by 8.1 percent or $2.3 billion compared to the same period last year.

The Central Bank said that from January to September of 2014, total personal remittances is at $19.6 billion or 6.7 percent year-on-year increase.

The growth in the increase was driven by the increase in transfers coming from land-based workers with work contract of one year or more (5.4 percent), and sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year (8.2 percent).

Meanwhile, bank remittances are up by 7.9 percent or $2.1 billion in September, amounting to $17.6 billion for the nine-month period. This represents a 6.1 percent growth compared to the same period last year which had $16.6 billion.

Most remittances came from money transfers from the following countries: the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and Canada.

According to reports from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), from January to September 2014, total job orders reached 680,392 with 43.1 percent from processed job orders for service, production and professional, technical and related workers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Taiwan and Qatar.