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| Remittances: Keeping RP’s Economy Healthy |
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Around 9 million of the Philippines’ 90 million population live and work outside of the country -- mostly as seafarers, construction and IT workers, nurses, doctors, care-givers and domestic helpers. While many decry the fact that an average of around 2,500 Filipinos leave the country everyday to work abroad, we cannot help but be grateful that the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have been propping up the country’s economy. For the past years, the remittances sent by OFWs to their families in the Philippines have boosted the purchasing power of Pinoys back home. It also lifts foreign exchange reserves, and the current account and deposits in the banking system. In fact, for the past six years, 10 percent of the country’s GDP (gross domestic product) come from remittances. It is truly keeping the Philippine economy away from the sick ward. Last February 2009, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that remittances reached $16.43 billion in 2008, registering a 13.7-percent growth from $14.45 billion in 2007. The latest growth rate of remittances was faster than the 13.2 percent in 2007.
BSP said that in December 2008 alone, remittances hit $1.4 billion, up slightly from $1.3 billion in November and from $1.397 billion 2007. The major sources of remittances in 2008 were the United States (accounting for half of the total), Saudi Arabia, Canada, UK, Italy, Arab Emirates, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong."Amidst the challenges posed by the global financial market strains and the economic downturn experienced by host economies, remittances from overseas Filipinos remain a dependable source of foreign exchange for the economy," BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said. He said more and more Filipinos abroad were using banks and other formal remittance channels to send money to their families and loved ones. The remittances data captured by the BSP does not include those sent from informal channels.
Remittances continued to grow at a robust pace despite a recession in the United States and Europe, which are home to many overseas Filipino workers, because they are mostly employed in "recession-proof" sectors like healthcare and education. While jobs may be lost in Western countries, new employment opportunities have opened up for Filipino workers in Canada, Bulgaria, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Tetangco said demand for Filipino professionals and skilled workers remained high in foreign countries as shown by the still high number of deployment for work overseas.The government’s forecasts agree with that of most analysts but disagree on the magnitude.
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