OFWs will continue to boost economy - TUCP

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Tuesday expressed confidence that dollar remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will continue to boost Philippine economic growth despite the expected economic slowdown in the United States.

The labor group’s spokesman Alex Aguilar told GMANews.TV in a phone interview that while the US remains the largest source of dollar remittances, inflows from other countries have grown considerably over the years.

“Definitely, the US remains a huge source of dollar inflows that grow by an average of 15 percent annually. But if we look at the overall remittance trend, money transfer from OFWs in other parts of the world is actually growing even faster," he said.

Aguilar brushed aside speculations that the economic slump in the US would result in the decline of OFW remittances.

Aguilar noted that remittances from the Middle East grow at an annual rate of 21 percent and those from Europe by 17 percent.

He added that remittances of OFWs from other countries are also expanding. Money transfers from Kuwait have been increasing at an annual rate of 51 percent. This is followed by Australia, 37 percent; Singapore, 33 percent; United Arab Emirates, 32 percent and the UK, 26 percent.
For the first time, remittances from Saudi Arabia breached the $1-billion annual mark in 2006, Aguilar said.

He said the TUCP sticks to its previous forecast that dollar remittances would grow at an average annual rate of 15 percent, and that by 2010, annual total could hit $21.4 billion.

In 2006, dollar remittances sent through banks reached $12.8 billion. From January to November 2007, the total was already at $13.1 billion.

Citing Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas records, Aguilar said that remittances from the US grew only by one percent in 2007, although 51 percent of the of total remittances in 2006 came from OFWs in that country.

He said that most of the higher-paid Filipinos in the US are employed in “recession-proof" jobs such as those in the health-care sector. - Fidel Jimenez, GMANews.TV

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