Remittances hit new record high in Sept.

Remittances rose further in September, hitting a new monthly high of $1.8 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. AFP FILE PHOTO

Remittances rose further in September, hitting a new monthly high of $1.8 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.

This only showed that the crisis in the eurozone did not put a damper on the ability of Filipino workers abroad to send money back to the country.

“Remittances remained resilient on the back of sustained foreign demand for skilled Filipino manpower and continued financial service innovations of banks and other financial institutions to address the remittance needs of overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries,” BSP Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said in a statement.

The BSP said the $1.84 billion in remittances sent to the Philippines in September was the highest on record, representing a 5.9-percent growth from the $1.74 billion reported in the same month last year.

Also, remittances during the month brought the total for the first three quarters of the year to $15.57 billion, up by 5.5 percent from the $14.76 billion of the same period a year ago.

Remittances in the first nine months indicated that the country could attain its full-year target of over $21.1 billion, representing a 5-percent growth from that of a year ago.

The BSP also reported that personal remittances, which include both cash and non-cash items (mostly goods sent through packages) being sent by Filipinos abroad, were valued at $17.32 billion for the first three quarters, up year on year by 5.7 percent from $16.4 billion.

Countries that served as the biggest sources of remittances in the first nine months were the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

The continued increase in remittances came with the sustained deployment of more Filipinos for work abroad.

The BSP cited data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showing that 262,444 job orders for Filipinos to work overseas were processed from January to October this year.

With this, the central bank said, there is reason to believe remittances will continue to remain strong at least over the short term.

The job orders came mostly from employers from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Taiwan.

With remittances staying strong, the BSP said, household consumption in the country is expected to remain robust as well. There are at least 10 million Filipinos overseas.