Remittance slows but still above $1-B in August

MANILA, Philippines - Remittances from overseas Filipinos sent through banks remained above the billion-dollar mark but the central bank said growth of inflows have slowed in August. Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that August remittances stood at $1.3 billion, 10.4 percent higher than the amount sent by overseas Filipinos in the same month last year. The remittance growth has slowed compared to the hikes in the four previous months. Remittances from January to August stood at $10.6 billion, 17.16 percent higher than total inflows from overseas Filipinos in the same period last year. Government earlier said remittances may grow by only 15 percent in the second half from 18 percent in the first semester. Besides comprising half of the Philippines’ dollar reserves—which are used to pay debts and imports such as oil—money sent home by Filipinos working abroad support 40 million Filipinos, nearly half of the country’s population. Despite the anticipated slowdown, BSP officer-in-charge Nestor A Espenilla said remittances will continue to support the Philippine economy amid the ongoing global financial turbulence as the number of overseas Filipinos grow and as they gain more access to banking services. "The increased access to formal channels by overseas Filipinos has been made possible by the establishment of more remittance centers and tie-ups abroad by local banks," Espenilla said. Preliminary figures from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showed that 884,907 Filipinos are employed abroad from January to August, 26.4 percent higher than the number deployed in the same period of 2007. "The ongoing conduct of talks with potential foreign employers combined with the increasing deployment of highly-skilled, therefore higher paid, Filipino workers continued to buoy the demand for Filipino manpower and the level of remittances," Espenilla said. Remittances in the eight months to August mainly came from Filipinos in the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. - GMANews.TV