Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 24) — Authorities have assured that money remittances from overseas would continue to come in even as the country is under quarantine due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at the Laging Handa briefing on Tuesday, Foreign Affairs undersecretary Brigido Dulay said, “Pagdating po sa remittance, hindi naman po tumigil ang pagtakbo ng negosyo…isa po ‘yang banking sector at financial services sector na tuloy pa po ang serbisyo.”
[Translation: Remittance businesses have not stopped…the banking and financial services sectors continue to serve.]
Dulay, however, said there could be a problem when people have to be physically present at remittance centers.
PLGen Guillermo Eleazar of the Philippine National Police said people could still remit money since employees of these establishments are allowed to travel from home to their places of work.
Earlier, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it sees sluggish growth for the rest of the year due to the virus outbreak.
The central bank said the slowdown, particularly due to the month-long shutdown of Luzon to contain the spread of COVID-19, would drastically pull down domestic activity.
Globally, economists have also expressed fear that the outbreak could trigger another recession as numerous countries, including the biggest markets, have been downed by the disease.
