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MANILA, Philippines – Remittances reached an all-time high in October, fueled by the steady cash transfers made by Filipinos living and working abroad, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
In a statement on Monday, December 16, BSP said personal remittances in October grew 8.8% from a year ago to $2.3 billion, an all-time monthly high. The growth rate was also the “highest annualized monthly growth rate recorded for 2013,” said the central bank.
This was the seventh consecutive month that personal remittances hit the $2-billion mark.
For the first 10 months, remittances totaled $20.5 billion, up 6.8% compared to the same period of 2012.
A key driver of domestic consumption, remittances account for over 10% of the country’s gross domestic product. Many Filipino families depend on cash sent by relatives based abroad to pay for their basic needs.
“Sustained demand for skilled and professional Filipino manpower overseas supported the steady rise in remittances for the first 10 months of the year,” BSP noted.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration approved a total of 675,966 job orders from overseas in January to October.
Of the total job orders processed, 39.7% were mainly for services, production, professional, technical and related workers.
Most of these workers were deployed to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Qatar. – Cherrie Regalado/Rappler.com
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