Overseas Filipinos' remittances hit $18.76b in 2010

Michelle Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Publication Date : 16-02-2011

Philippine remittances grew faster than anticipated in 2010 to post an all-time high, as the recovery of the global economy from the recent turmoil led to growth in job opportunities for Filipinos abroad. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Tuesday that remittances from Filipinos based abroad reached US$18.76 billion in 2010, the highest ever recorded. It marked an 8.2-per-cent growth from the $17.07 billion registered in 2009, slightly exceeding the government's forecast of an 8-per-cent growth. Last December alone, remittances amounted to $1.69 billion, rising by 8.1 per cent from $1.57 billion in the same month of December 2009. The BSP said robust growth in remittances, which fuelled consumption, partly aided the economy's rebound last year from the slowdown in 2009. "The stable flow of remittances continued to provide strong support to domestic demand, with the remittances level for the year accounting for close to 10 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP)," BSP governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a statement. Remittances largely came from Filipinos based in the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Italy, Germany, and Norway. The economy's GDP grew by 7.3 per cent in 2010, the fastest pace in about three decades. The increasing number of job markets for Filipinos as well as the expanding network of remittance centres serving Filipino workers should be credited for boosting the amount of money sent by Filipinos to their families and other recipients in the Philippines, the BSP said. "The continuing innovation of financial products and services (such as web-based remittance services, cash cards, among others) being offered in the market to facilitate money transfer have likewise contributed to the resilience of remittances throughout the year," Tetangco said. The BSP said that as of the end of 2010, there were 4,581 remittance centres, banks, and other offices all over the world serving the remittance-services needs of Filipinos. These were up from 3,730 registered as of the end of 2009. Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the central bank further reported that 46,238 job orders for Filipino workers by foreign employers were processed and approved in 2010, thereby increasing the number of overseas Filipino workers estimated at around 10 million. While increase in remittances positively impacts on the economy, via rise in consumption by recipients, it reflects the view of many Filipinos that the country still lacks job opportunities for its citizens. The National Statistics Office earlier reported that the unemployment rate in the country stood at 7.1 per cent in October 2010, just the same as that in the same period of the previous year.

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over 46,000 job orders were processed and approved in 2010. assuming that it increases to 60,000 job orders in 2011 there will be 5,000 OFWs leaving the country monthly boosting the local economy even if the government officials in malacanang and the batasan and the town municipios do nothing at all but steal from the people.