Dollar remittances down by 2.4% on strong peso

As the value of peso went up and gained on the US dollar by 7.4 percent, the money sent home by Filipinos abroad was 2.4 percent lower in peso terms in April. The peso against dollar in April was 44.6266 on average, up by 4.5 percent from 45.7425 in March. Thus, the peso value of remittances that totaled $1.52 billion in April amounted to only 44.6266 billion, down from 45.6266 billion a month earlier. According to First Metro Investment Corp., the investment bank of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., the $1.52 billion in remittances was 5.4 percent higher from a year earlier, but was "a tad lower compared to [the] previous month’s 5.6 percent year-on-year growth." "The continuing Euro-zone debt crisis has negatively impacted this gain, which was the slowest since August of last year. Fortunately, the pace is still within our projections of five percent to eight percent expansion for the full year," FMIC said. "The not-so-good news is that in peso terms, these remittances fell by 2.4 percent, the second consecutive month in the red. This was the result of the strong peso that was observed during April. The 7.4 percent appreciation of the peso mitigated the consumption and investment spending effects of these remittances," it added. The peso closed at 46.450 Monday, according to the Philippine Dealing System, up from 46.520 on Friday. —Jesse Edep/VS, GMANews.TV