Strong demand for OFWs leads to remittance hike

Money sent home by Filipino workers overseas rose by almost a tenth to $2.8 billion (around P124 billion) in the first two months of 2010 compared to year-ago figures, the central bank said on Friday. February remittances from the country's 1.4 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) grew by 6.4 percent to $1.4 billion (around P62 billion), while January figures rose by 13.4 percent. "[S]trong remittance flows during the two-month period were shored up mainly by the continued strong demand for professional and skilled Filipino overseas workers as global employment opportunities remained favorable, combined with the wider access to expanded money transfer services by OFs and their beneficiaries. These factors support the optimistic outlook for the sustained growth in remittances throughout the year," Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. said. Bulk of the remittances came from the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Italy. Last year, OFW remittances grew by 5.6 percent to $17.1 billion, which exceeded the central bank's four-percent projection. The central bank expects remittances to grow by six percent this year. The number of OFWs worldwide increased by 15.1 percent in 2009 from 1.2 million in 2008. - GMANews.TV