Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — A steady demand for skilled Filipino manpower abroad has buoyed growth in personal remittances. Statistics from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed that such funds from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reached $2.2 billion in April — a 4.9% year-on-year growth from April 2014.
Likewise, preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Association (POEA) showed that there were 310,727 approved job orders in the first four months of 2015. Approximately 33.8% of that figure were job orders for service; production; and professional, technical, and related workers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates.
In a statement, the BSP noted that personal remittances have accumulated to $8.6 billion from January to April, representing a 5.1% increase from the same period last year.
A large majority of the funds — 74% or $6.4 billion — came from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more. Approximately one-fourth (24%, or $2.1 billion) of personal remittances came from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year, while 2% (o.$0.2 billion) came from household-to-household transfers from migrants sending their money to relatives in the Philippines.
On the other hand, cash remittances also posted a 5.1% year-on-year growth to $2 billion in April. On a cumulative basis, cash remittances from January to April stand at $7.8 billion, also up by 5.4% compared to the same period last year. Funds from land-based workers rose 5.3% to $5.9 billion, while those from sea-based workers rose 5.6% to $1.9 billion.
The major sources of cash remittances were the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and Canada.
Apart from overseas demand, the BSP said that the business development of remittance service providers contributed to the growth.
“[T]he continued efforts of bank and non-bank remittance service providers to expand their international and domestic market coverage, and introduce innovations in financial products and services in the remittance market contributed to the sustained inflow of remittances.”
