BSP mulls global summit on impact of remittances
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04/07/2008 | 04:47 PM
Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is mulling the idea of hosting an international summit on the implications of overseas workers’ remittances on the economy of labor-sending countries like the Philippines.
Policy-makers, central bankers, industry leaders and academicians are some of the sectors considered to participate in the discussions.
The idea is to call experts to a summit to discuss the prevailing views on remittances that have increasingly become critical to the economies they support, according to Cyd Amador, managing director of the BSP's monetary policy sub-sector.
He said the summit is envisioned to find the answers to key questions pertaining to the implications of overseas remittances on the economic and monetary policies of countries.
"The first questions that need to be asked are very basic, like what are the macro-economic implications of remittances?" Amador said. "We also want to find out if remittances contribute to financial inclusion, or if they serve to overcome financing constraints."
Last year, BSP recorded $14.4 billion in overseas remittances, mostly from contract workers. This excludes money sent to relatives in the Philippines through the informal sector, like the ‘padala’ and door-to-door delivery schemes.
The amount was equivalent to almost one half of the country’s international reserves.
There are roughly eight million overseas Filipino workers and about four million immigrants, spread out in almost 200 countries around the globe.
The BSP projects remittances at the end of 2008 to reach $16.2 billion, with the deployment of more Filipinos despite a slow down in the US economy.
According to BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr., the gross remittances from overseas Filipinos would expand by eight percent, including monies sent through informal and non-bank channels.
Remittances that go through banks, on the other hand, were projected to grow at a faster rate of 10 percent to reach $15.7 billion compared to only $14 billion this year.
Tetangco said there was an expected increase in the deployment of workers this year but over the medium term, the sustainability of remittances would depend on the availability of manpower.
"The demand is likely to stay, it all depends on how fast and how many
we can train to fill up that demand," Tetangco said.
Economists consider deployment of Filipino workers as a cop-out," with the Arroyo administration preferring to train workers for overseas employment instead of creating more job opportunities in the country.
A survey of the National Statistics Office in 2005 showed that the country has so far sent more than 1.4 million workers abroad, about 76.6 percent were working in Asian and the rest in Europe, North and South America.
The NSO said 50.3 percent were makes and the rest were females with female OFWs aged 25 to 29 years.
The NSO said one in every three (33.1%) OFWs was employed as unskilled worker while those who worked as trade workers or trade-related workers comprised 14.5 percent of the total number of OFWs. - GMANews.TV
04/07/2008 | 04:47 PM
Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is mulling the idea of hosting an international summit on the implications of overseas workers’ remittances on the economy of labor-sending countries like the Philippines.
Policy-makers, central bankers, industry leaders and academicians are some of the sectors considered to participate in the discussions.
The idea is to call experts to a summit to discuss the prevailing views on remittances that have increasingly become critical to the economies they support, according to Cyd Amador, managing director of the BSP's monetary policy sub-sector.
He said the summit is envisioned to find the answers to key questions pertaining to the implications of overseas remittances on the economic and monetary policies of countries.
"The first questions that need to be asked are very basic, like what are the macro-economic implications of remittances?" Amador said. "We also want to find out if remittances contribute to financial inclusion, or if they serve to overcome financing constraints."
Last year, BSP recorded $14.4 billion in overseas remittances, mostly from contract workers. This excludes money sent to relatives in the Philippines through the informal sector, like the ‘padala’ and door-to-door delivery schemes.
The amount was equivalent to almost one half of the country’s international reserves.
There are roughly eight million overseas Filipino workers and about four million immigrants, spread out in almost 200 countries around the globe.
The BSP projects remittances at the end of 2008 to reach $16.2 billion, with the deployment of more Filipinos despite a slow down in the US economy.
According to BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco, Jr., the gross remittances from overseas Filipinos would expand by eight percent, including monies sent through informal and non-bank channels.
Remittances that go through banks, on the other hand, were projected to grow at a faster rate of 10 percent to reach $15.7 billion compared to only $14 billion this year.
Tetangco said there was an expected increase in the deployment of workers this year but over the medium term, the sustainability of remittances would depend on the availability of manpower.
"The demand is likely to stay, it all depends on how fast and how many
we can train to fill up that demand," Tetangco said.
Economists consider deployment of Filipino workers as a cop-out," with the Arroyo administration preferring to train workers for overseas employment instead of creating more job opportunities in the country.
A survey of the National Statistics Office in 2005 showed that the country has so far sent more than 1.4 million workers abroad, about 76.6 percent were working in Asian and the rest in Europe, North and South America.
The NSO said 50.3 percent were makes and the rest were females with female OFWs aged 25 to 29 years.
The NSO said one in every three (33.1%) OFWs was employed as unskilled worker while those who worked as trade workers or trade-related workers comprised 14.5 percent of the total number of OFWs. - GMANews.TV
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