Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) through banks grew by a modest 3.3 percent year-on-year to $1.4 billion in October, showing the slowest pace of expansion in 18 months, as the Philippines began to feel the pinch of a slowing global economy, the central bank reported Monday.

OFWs? remittances from January to October totaled $13.7 billion, up 15.5-percent from the same months last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

In September, when the global financial turbulence escalated, the remittances grew 16.9 percent from a year earlier.

But while growth tapered in October, given a more challenging global environment and a high base in October last year, the inflow that month was the second-highest monthly amount since 1989, when the BSP started to have a separate category for overseas workers? remittances in its foreign exchange statistical monitoring system.

The banking system has consistently captured more than $1 billion in monthly foreign exchange remittances from overseas Filipinos since May 2006, providing significant support to domestic economic growth.

Compared with those in September, the remittances in October were up 7.6 percent, in line with the seasonal influx associated with the Christmas season, the country?s longest and most extravagant holiday celebration.

?The steady flow of remittances from overseas Filipinos, which has stayed above the $1-billion level for more than two years now, shows that remittances remain resilient and continue to be an underlying source of strength for the economy,? BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a statement.

He explained that sustained demand for highly skilled, better-paid Filipino professional workers, combined with the wider access by overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries to expanded remittance transfer facilities, continued to support overseas Filipino remittances.

Citing preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Tetangco said that from January to October the number of Filipino workers deployed abroad increased 25.5 percent to 1.2 million from 888,339 in the same months last year.

The major sources of remittances for the 10-month period were the United States, Saudi Arabia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

Tetangco said, ?While there could be a slowdown in the rate of deployment as a result of global financial strains, this could be moderated by employment opportunities in some host countries such as Canada, some other Middle Eastern countries, and more recently, South Australia, which have sounded off their need for more skilled manpower to address skills shortage.?

Tetangco added that enhanced and easier access to financial products and services through the expansion in the number of remittance centers abroad and tie-ups with foreign financial institutions was leading to faster, cheaper, and more efficient fund transfer services. Edited by INQUIRER.net