October remittances jump 17%, hit record $1.39B - BSP
Remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks surged 17.1 percent to a record high of $1.388 billion in October as earnings were sent home in anticipation of the holiday season.
In a statement on its website, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the October figure brings the level of remittances for the first ten months of the year to $11.9 billion, an increase of 15.2 percent from a year ago.
The BSP said most of the remittances came from the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong.
The growth in remittances was also consistent with the recovery in the number of overseas workers, the BSP said, citing preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
The POEA data showed that total deployment number in October climbed 3.9 percent to 88,058, the fourth consecutive month that the deployment figure was higher compared to the respective year ago level.
Deployed land-based workers rose 10.7 percent to 64,066 in October, while the number of deployed sea-based workers lessened 10.7 percent to 23,992.
According to the POEA, the decline in the number of sea-based workers was traced partly to the delay in the workers’ visa issued by host countries and increasing competition from workers from other countries.
"The sustained increase in remittance inflows may also be attributed in part to greater access by OFs to Philippine money transfer agents as the number of remittance centers and tie-ups with foreign financial institutions increased, reaching out to a greater number of Filipino remitters abroad," the BSP said. - GMANews.TV
In a statement on its website, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the October figure brings the level of remittances for the first ten months of the year to $11.9 billion, an increase of 15.2 percent from a year ago.
The BSP said most of the remittances came from the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong.
The growth in remittances was also consistent with the recovery in the number of overseas workers, the BSP said, citing preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
The POEA data showed that total deployment number in October climbed 3.9 percent to 88,058, the fourth consecutive month that the deployment figure was higher compared to the respective year ago level.
Deployed land-based workers rose 10.7 percent to 64,066 in October, while the number of deployed sea-based workers lessened 10.7 percent to 23,992.
According to the POEA, the decline in the number of sea-based workers was traced partly to the delay in the workers’ visa issued by host countries and increasing competition from workers from other countries.
"The sustained increase in remittance inflows may also be attributed in part to greater access by OFs to Philippine money transfer agents as the number of remittance centers and tie-ups with foreign financial institutions increased, reaching out to a greater number of Filipino remitters abroad," the BSP said. - GMANews.TV
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