Remittances to hit record high due to typhoon aid

Remittances are expected to reach a record high this year after overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are seen to send more cash home to assist their families whose houses have been damaged by typhoons. From last year’s $16.426 billion, remittances are expected to grow by $500 million to $1 billion to an unprecedented $17 billion this year, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said. The increase in remittances will be used for “recovery spending" and housing repairs of OFW families and beneficiaries whose homes were either flooded or washed away by waters that submerged the Philippine capital. Tropical cyclone Ondoy brought record amounts of rainfall, engulfing whole villages for weeks, in September. Weeks later, typhoon Pepeng also unleashed furious winds and rain, damaging not only houses but farms, crops, poultry, and livestock. Citing data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), OFWs sent home $12.789 billion through formal banking sectors from January to September this year. This is up by 4.21 percent from the same period in 2008. Earlier, the TUCP had projected remittances to drop by 10 percent this year due to the economic slump in the US which leads to job cuts. Remittances coursed through channels in the US from January to September this year have plunged by 9.71 percent or $5.360 billion from $5.937 billion in the same period in 2008. But TUCP secretary-general Ernesto Herrera said this was easily offset by the remittances from Filipinos in Canada and Japan. Filipinos from Canada, where many Filipino migrants are highly-paid professionals, sent $494.22-million while some $212.43 million was sent from Japan. The surge in remittances from Japan is due to the increased hiring of Filipino seafarers. -RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV