Remittances reach US$1.7 billion in September

Remittances coursed through banks remained strong in September 2011 at US$1.7 billion, registering an 8.4% growth compared to the amount recorded a year ago, according to a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) press release.

The total amount remitted from January-September is $14.8 billion, which is 7.1% higher compared to the amount for the same period in 2010, said BSP Governor Amando M Tetangco, Jr.

Remittances from land-based workers, which account for 78% of the total remittances, increased by 5.3% to $11.6 billion, while remittances from sea-based workers expanded by 14.1% to $3.2 billion.

For the nine-month period, the top 10 country sources of remittances included the United States (US), Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom (UK), Japan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, Italy, Germany and Norway. The remittance flows from these countries amounted to $12.5 billion, 84.9% of total remittances reported by banks.

Data reported by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that for the period January 1-October 31, 2011, the total number of processed job orders for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) intended for Saudi Arabia, UAE, Taiwan, Qatar, Kuwait, and Hong Kong was 223,172, or 40.7% of all approved job orders.

Moreover, in the first eight months of 2011, the number of land-based workers with processed contracts and are waiting to be deployed increased by 4.5% to 933,579 from 893,220 in the same period last year. Meanwhile, sea-based workers increased by 5.5% to 316,411 from 300,033.

The POEA’s data on job orders abroad provide support for a stable outlook on the growth of remittances in the last quarter of 2011.

As of end September 2011, the total number of bank branches, correspondent banks, remittance centers and tie-ups with OFW remittances abroad grew by 6.7% to 4,688 compared to 4,392 as of end September 2010.