Remittances by overseas Filipinos rise 14.4 per cent

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday November 15, 2006

Manila- Dollar remittances from overseas Filipinos rose 14.4 per cent in the first nine months of the year, helping keep the peso strong against the US dollar, the government said Wednesday. The central bank said remittances from January to September reached 9.11 billion dollars, compared with 7.964 billion dollars in the same period last year.

In September alone, remittances reached 1.01 billion dollars, higher than the 942,443 million dollars for the same month last year.

The cental bank attributed the continued increase in remittances on the high demand for Filipino workers abroad.

"The steady rise in remittances during the first nine months of the year reflected the continued deployment of Filipinos workers abroad," it said in a statement.

It also cited the "increasing access [of overseas Filipinos] to efficient modes of formal transfers" of money as another reason for the increase in remittances.

According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, a total of 856,866 Filipinos left to work abroad from January to September, up 9.6 per cent in the same nine-month period last year.

In September alone, 80,307 Filipinos found work overseas, the administration said.

The strong remittances have been a key factor in the strengthening of the peso, which has recently rose to four-year highs against the dollar.

Central bank records showed that the main sources of dollar remittances from abroad were the United States, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Britain, Japan, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency