Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

NEW YORK—The worldwide economy is in the doldrums and countries are doing their best to avoid economic collapse. The Philippines, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, has found a safety net in the millions of Filipinos in the global diaspora who relentlessly and without fail send in hard-earned dollars to their families and relatives back home.

"The money Filipinos send home sustains countless families and fuels the country’s strongly consumer-oriented economy. Now, it could be critical in helping buffer the nation from the ravages of the global financial crisis, some economists and government officials contend," according to the Wall Street Journal article.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. told reporters last week that the actual 17 percent growth in remittances in the first nine months of 2007 gave them reason to believe the full-year goal can be achieved.

The optimism is based on the fact that the remittances have surpassed their projection. Last year, overseas Filipinos remitted a record 14.44 billion dollars.

"The forecast remittance from overseas Filipinos this year was $16 billion, but has already totaled more than $12 billion in the first nine months, so we are getting there," he said.

The figures being cited do not include those sent through informal non-bank channels, mostly cash sent through friends or rela ives who are going home for a vacation, or through courier via mailed letters and balikbayan boxes.

"Aside from the 14 to 15 billion dollars overseas Filipinos last year, there is an estimated 5 to 6 billion dollars that were sent through informal channels," former House Speaker Jose de Venecia said last week during his book launch in New York.

For the month of September alone, remittances of overseas Filipinos according to the central bank reached $1.33 billion, 16.9 percent higher than the year earlier.

An estimated 10 percent of the Philippines’ 90 million people work outside the Philippines and the country is the world’s fourth-largest recipient of remittances, after China, India and Mexico. The money they send home is equivalent to about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Despite said optimism, there have been fears that the global economic slowdown will begin affecting the remittances of overseas Filipinos beginning 2009, with the onset of freeze hiring from different countries while others fear massive lay-offs among expatriate Filipinos.

"We don’t think there will be a decline in remittance amount, but there may be a deceleration in the growth rate and not a decline in the absolute amount," Tetangco told the media.

Based on preliminary BSP estimates, growth of overseas remittances next year may slow to 6 percent compared with the 10- to 11-percent expansion projected for this year.

As remittances continue to exponentially grow and continue to be more resilient with the times, organizations such as the World Bank and some investment banks are also optimistic about the future of the Philippine economy.

"The Philippines is in a better position [than some of its neighbors] to weather the uncertainties brought about by the recent global slowdown," the World Bank said in a quarterly update on the Philippine economy last month.

 "[The Philippines] appears well-positioned to ride out the current storm. Unlike some countries that are heavily dependent on remittances, the Philippines’ expatriates are more likely to be filling professional roles in the fields of education and health care, which economists see as less vulnerable to layoffs during a recession," the article explained.

( www.asianjournal.com )

( Published on December 8, 2008 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A6 )