Remittances — or money sent home from abroad — from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) grew by 13.2 per cent to a staggering $14.4 billion last year, the Central Bank of The Philippines revealed last week.

The Central Banks said OFW remittances exceeded its projection by $100 million for 2007.
The bank said the robust remittance inflows was due to the continued demand for Filipino workers as well as “enhanced remittance services” provided by banks and nonbank remittance agents, including services offered over the Internet and cell phone networks.

Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that Filipino workers deployed abroad exceeded eight million in 2007, or 10 per cent of the total population of The Philippines.

According to the POEA, the major countries of destination for OFWs include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Taiwan as well as the United States and Canada.
Professionals and skilled workers accounted for the bulk of deployed new hires in 2007.

The perception within Filipino communities that 1.2 million workers in the Middle East are the biggest source of foreign currency remittances to The Philippines is no longer valid.
A top Philippine official revealed recently that Canada and the U.S. are in fact the biggest sources of foreign exchange remittances considered the “life-line” for the recovery of the Philippine economy.

“Overseas Filipinos are now the driving force behind economic stability of our country,” Philippine Ambassador to Canada Jose Brillantes told the Asian Pacific Post.

The Central Bank said the significant hike in remittances also resulted from the increased presence of commercial banks and local money transfer agents in countries with high concentration of Filipino manpower.

“Looking forward, remittance flows are expected to get a further boost from the newly-signed agreements between a local money transfer company and two telecommunication service providers aimed at providing OFWs with convenient and affordable remittance transfers,” said the bank.

Brillantes added that last year, overseas Filipino workers remitted another $5.5 billion in cash remittances sent through other ways and systems than banking channels.

“If you translate $20 billion in Philippines pesos it would be about Php1.1 trillion, which is the same amount of the total national budget of the entire Philippine,” says Brillantes.

He said that “Filipino-Canadians have been able to contribute in the resurgence of the Philippine economy and the entire nation is very proud of all of you.”

In a special meeting with leaders of various organizations around Metro Vancouver, Western Union finance officer Chito Gonzales said the real remittance figure may be closer to $24 billion, factoring in money sent through “illegitmate” money remittance centres that work around Canadian law demanding any transfer over $3,000 in cash must pass through Canadian-sanctioned banking channels.

“We discovered that illegitimate money remittance centers would suggest putting a limit to the amount you are sending to $2,999 and below,” says Gonzales. “If you are sending $10,000, they would even suggest that it should be sent by five different persons to circumvent the Canadian law and that is money laundering.”