OFWs have until June 30 to convert Libyan dinars

Overseas Filipino Workers repatriated from Libya have until June 30 to convert their Libyan dinars into pesos, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday. The central bank's Monetary Board decided on Wednesday to terminate the Currency Exchange Facility (CEF) for Libyan dinars, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a statement. The facility was established in March to help OFWs displaced by the strife in the North African country. By July 1, the Bangko Sentral and the authorized agent banks (AABs) will no longer accept Libyan dinars, Tetangco said. "Considering, however, the observed decline in transactions under the CEF, the BSP Cash Department, BSP regional offices or branches, and AABs, shall no longer accept Libyan dinars for conversion to pesos effective July 1," he stressed. With the CEF, each OFW repatriated from Libya may exchange up to P10,000 worth of Libyan dinars into pesos. In the past, the BSP had established other CEFs in response to other emergencies in the Middle East including the 1990 Kuwait-Iraq war, the 2003 US-Iraq conflict and the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Only 16 foreign currencies are convertible with the BSP: US dollar, Japanese yen, British pound, Hong Kong dollar, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Singapore dollar, Australian dollar, Bahraini dinar, Kuwaiti dinar, Saudi Arabian rial, Brunei dollar, Indonesian rupiah, Thai baht, United Arab Emirates dirham, the European Monetary Union euro, Chinese yuan, and Korean won. Currencies the BSP does not convert are the Argentinean peso, Brazilian real, Denmark kroner, Indian rupee, Malaysian ringgit, Mexican peso, New Zealand dollar, Norwegian kroner, Pakistani rupee, South African rand, Swedish kroner, Syrian pound, Taiwan dollar, and Venezuelan bolivar. Remittances grew 8.2 percent to a record $18.76 billion last year from $17.35 billion a year earlier with more OFWs deployed abroad and the rise of more remittance centers overseas that gave Filipinos more options to send money to their loved ones in the Philippines as competitive rates. Central bank data showed that the Middle East accounted for about 16 percent of the total OFW remittances last year, rising 11.2 percent to $2.96 billion from $2.66 billion in the 2010-2009 comparable years. More than half of the remittances from the Middle East or $1.644 billion came from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates ($776.3 million), Qatar ($248.8 million), Bahrain ($167.28 million), Kuwait ($106.5 million), Israel ($67.3 million), and Oman ($66.76 million). The BSP's Monetary Board, however, decided to lower the growth forecast on remittances to 7 percent or $20.1 billion this year, from an earlier estimate of 8 percent or $20.2 billion with the strife in the Middle East and North African states and natural disasters in Japan displacing thousands of OFWs. The Bangko Sentral also sees remittances further slowing down to 5 percent or $21.1 billion by 2012. — VS, GMA News