OFW deployments boosted November 2015 remittances

Cash sent home by overseas Filipinos rose 3.2 percent year-on-year to $2.2 billion last November, bringing the total for the first 11 months of 2015 to $22.8 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.

According to BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., “the continued deployment of skilled overseas Filipino workers remained a key driver of the growth in remittance inflows.” The 11-month total was up 3.6 percent from $22 billion a year ago.

“Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showed that for the period January to November 2015, total job orders reached 771,635, of which 44 percent have been processed. These job orders were intended mainly for service, production, and professional, technical and related workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan and Hong Kong,” Tetangco noted.

As of end-November, the cash remitted through banks by land- and sea-based Filipino workers abroad reached $17.6 billion and $5.2 billion, respectively, the BSP said.

The top sources of remittances during the first 11 months of last year were Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. The combined remittances from those eight countries made up over 79 percent of the total.

Before the close of 2015, the BSP slightly adjusted downward its yearend cash remittances projection to $25.3 billion, mainly on softening demand from overseas labor markets that hire Filipino workers.

The BSP last month said the growth forecast for 2015 was reduced to 4 percent from 5 percent previously amid “continued dollar appreciation relative to the currencies of major host countries.” The BSP had also cited “weakening” job orders, especially from the Middle East and North Africa.

The BSP’s previous forecast was a rise in remittances to $25.6 billion in 2015 from $24.3 billion in 2014.

For 2016, the growth in cash remittances is also projected at 4 percent to $26.3 billion.

Last week, Tetangco said the BSP sees a temporary slowdown in remittances from Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia and Iran amid the tension between the two Middle Eastern countries.