OFW remittances hit record high in June

$1.8-B inflow brings 6-month total to $10.13B

REMITTANCES from overseas Filipinos posted a new monthly record high of $1.8 billion in June, aided by the strong global demand for Filipino workers even as the world economy continues to struggle with the dampening effects of the euro zone crisis.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas yesterday reported that cash sent by overseas-based Filipinos in June was an increase of 4 percent from $1.7 billion in the same month last year. This also brought total remittances for the first half to $10.13 bil- lion, up 5.1 percent from $9.64 billion in the same period a year ago.

“The sustained growth in the deployment of OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) was the key contributory factor to the upswing seen in remittance flows,” the BSP said in a statement.

Remittances in the first half came mostly from workers based in the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

Citing documents from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the central bank reported that Filipinos who were deployed to work abroad in 2011 reached 1.69 million. This was higher by 15 percent from the 1.47 million deployed the previous year.

Filipinos who were sent for overseas employment last year helped drive growth in remittances this year, the central bank said.

Countries hosting the bulk of Filipinos workers last year were Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong and Qatar, the central bank added.

The BSP expressed confidence that remittances in the short term would remain robust because the number of Filipinos who got their overseas job orders approved from January to July this year remained signifi