New BSP memo creates dinar-peso exchange facility for Libya OFWs

(Updated 7:29 p.m.) Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) repatriated from strife-torn Libya may now exchange their Libyan dinars in commercial banks and central bank branches, but only up to P10,000 maximum and within seven days upon landing in the Philippines, the Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas said Thursday. "The Monetary Board approved today the opening of a Currency Exchange Facility that will allow Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who evacuated from Libya to exchange Libyan dinars for Philippine pesos," the central bank said in a statement. The BSP will set the peso-dinar exchange rate with which it will buy the Libyan currency from OFWs and banks that bought the North African notes under the facility, BSP Deputy Gov. Diwa Guinigundo said. The dinar-peso exchange rate will be “posted daily in the BSP Reference Exchange Rate Bulletin," the central bank said. The exchange rate for the Libyan dinar is 1.23:$1. “Banks with branch offices at the airports may extend banking hours, as needed, to service currency conversion requirements of returning OFWs," Guinigundo said. The central bank said the OFWs need to present proof of travel from Libya, including passport or other travel documents issued by the Philippine embassy. First currency exchange facility The Philippines first created the currency exchange facility during the Kuwait-Iraq war in the 1990s, then in 2003 during US-Iraq conflict, and in 2006 during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Monetary authorities are closely watching developments in the Middle East since it accounts for about 16 percent of OFW remittances. Money sent home by OFWs grew 8.2 percent to a record $18.76 billion last year, from $17.35 billion in 2009, as demand for skilled Filipino workers remained strong, the central bank reported on Feb. 15. Data showed that Middle East alone accounted for 16 percent of remittances last year, which totaled $2.96 billion — up 11.2 percent from $2.66 billion in 2009. More than half, or $1.644 billion, of the money Middle East OFWs sent home came from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates ($776.3 million), Qatar ($248.8 million), Bahrain ($167.28 million), Kuwait ($106.5 — JE/VS, GMA News