Gov’t urged to seek new OFW markets

CASH remittance inflows will remain robust despite economic or political troubles in the biggest overseas job markets if a sizable number of Filipino workers will continuously be deployed to smaller, nontraditional destinations, according to the Department of Finance’s chief economist.

“The country should continue exploiting nontraditional markets for deploying OFWs [overseas Filipino workers] to reduce risks. While OFWs are in professions that are socially necessary (such as nursing, education and management) and are therefore less prone to job turnovers, reduced concentration could minimize risks from sociopolitical upheavals and economic instability,” Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said in an economic bulletin last week.

“The destination of OFWs is becoming more dispersed. Except for Europe and Oceania, the share of other countries which are usually the smaller countries is growing faster than traditional markets,” Beltran noted.

While the steep decline in global oil prices has yet to impact on remittance flows from the Middle East, Beltran urged the Department of Labor and Employment to “be ready with viable options in case the economic crunch starts to bite.”

The latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed that during the first 11 months of 2015, the Middle East remained the second largest source of remittances on a per region basis, as its 23-percent share was exceeded only by the Americas’ 44.4-percent share. The end-November share of remittances from the Middle East also increased from 21.7 percent a year ago. Ben O. de Vera