MANILA, Philippines -- Money sent home by Filipinos working abroad rose to $1.3 billion in August, up 10.4 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said Wednesday.

This brought remittances for the first eight months of the year to $10.9 billion, up 17.2 percent from a year earlier.

The bank said the global financial slowdown could put the brakes on the growth of remittances, particularly from Filipinos working in advanced countries.

However, the central bank expects remittances to "continue to provide strong support to the economy," which is forecast to grow at a much slower pace compared to the 30-year high 7.2-percent growth last year.

The central bank said some 885,000 Filipinos left the country to work abroad in the first eight months of the year, up 26.4 percent from the level a year ago. Most of them were deployed to the Middle East, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The central bank expects overseas worker remittances to hit a record $15.9 billion this year, up 10 percent from 2007.