OF remittances post 4.9% growth in end-February ‘09

MANILA, April 16 (PNA) – Resiliency of remittances sent by overseas Filipinos (OFs) has again proven its mettle after it posted a 4.9-percent growth last February reaching US$ 1.3 billion.

The latest monthly growth rate of remittances is better than the 0.1 percent it posted in the first month of the year, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday showed.

This development brought the year-to-date remittance inflows to US$ 2.6 billion, 2.58 percent higher than the US$ 2.52 billion in February 2008.

Of the total, inflows from sea-based workers grew by 6.1 percent while those from land-based workers rose by 1.7 percent, the central bank said.

Bulk of the inflows came from the US, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Japan, UK, Singapore, Italy and United Arab Emirates.

“Remittances have been holding up as deployment of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) has risen during the first two months of the year while the increase in the number of reported lay-offs has slowed down,” BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said.

Citing initial Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) data, the BSP said OFW deployment grew 27.3 percent year-on-year last February after it reached 283,348 from year-ago’s 222,608.

The central bank also said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will renew the government’s labor arrangement with South Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS), eyed to be signed next month.

EPS would prioritize giving jobs to displaced OFWs working in South Korea.

Relatively, the Philippine government, aside from forging agreements with host countries like Canada, Australia, Japan and some countries in the Middle East, has strengthened efforts to deploy retrenched OFWs in countries not greatly affected by the global crisis like Saudi Arabia and Libya.

“Moreover, the relocation in 2010 of the US Naval forces presently situated in Okinawa, Japan to Guam could provide job opportunities to Filipino workers,” Tetangco said.