January remittances rise 5.4% to $1.56B

Remittances in January 2012 grew year on year by 5.4 percent to $1.56 billion, according to documents from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Remittances grew in January from a year ago as the better global economic outlook for 2012 supported sustained demand for Filipino workers in various foreign labor markets.

Economic managers expected the growth in remittances in January to set a trend for the entire year, raising hopes that consumption of Filipino households would be boosted and, in the process, accelerate the growth of the overall economy.

“Sustained demand for professional and skilled Filipino workers underpinned the steady flow of remittances,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Thursday.

Documents from the BSP showed that money sent to the Philippines by Filipinos based offshore amounted to $1.56 billion in January, rising 5.4 percent from $1.48 billion in the same month last year.

The remittance growth in January was consistent with the BSP’s forecast of a 5-percent increase to $21.1 billion for the entire 2012.

Last year, total remittances amounted to $20.1 billion, up 7.2 percent year on year.

The growth in remittances in January came about as job orders for Filipino workers came in. Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the BSP said that from January to February, job orders for Filipino workers made by employers abroad reached 22,688. The job orders were mostly for employers from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Taiwan and Kuwait.

The BSP said the ability of Filipino jobseekers to get work offshore was also aided by efforts of various foreign labor markets to enhance their recruitment systems. Many countries have improved their mode of hiring migrant workers in a bid to more quickly address labor needs of their enterprises, it added.

Taiwan, for instance, launched an electronic system of hiring migrant workers called the “International Direct e-Recruitment System” (IEeS). Korea also enhanced its system of issuing work permits for migrant workers through the “Korean Employment Permit System.”

The BSP said efforts of Filipino banks and other financial institutions to expand their presence abroad to serve the remittance-facilitation needs of Filipino workers aided in the increase in remittances. Improved accessibility of remittance centers has encouraged overseas-based Filipinos to send money to their families or other beneficiaries more frequently.

“Banks and other financial institutions have been aggressively expanding their global financial services through tie-ups with foreign financial institutions,” the BSP said.

Remittances are a closely watched economic indicator as these help fuel household consumption, which is a key growth driver for the Philippine economy. The dependence of many Filipino families on remittances, however, is deemed an indication of a lack of income opportunities in the Philippines.