Friday, February 13, 2004
Filipino workers remit home record $7.6 bn in 2003
Reuters Manila, February 12
Filipino workers abroad remitted home a record $7.6 billion in 2003 and their vital contribution to the country's foreign exchange earnings is set to grow further this year, the central bank said on Thursday.
The bank said remittances by overseas Filipino workers were expected to rise three per cent to $7.8 billion in 2004 having risen 6.3 per cent last year. Some seven million Filipinos work abroad mainly in the medical, entertainment and service sectors in the United States, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
Their earnings have become one of the biggest contributors to the country's foreign reserves in recent years at a time when the Philippine economy faces severe public debt and fiscal deficit problems.
The bank said remittances from the workers last year accounted for about 16 per cent of total current account receipts or about 10 per cent of the country's gross domestic product.
"The growth in remittances for 2003 resulted from the increase in the deployment of land-based workers with higher compensation than other skilled workers as well as sea-based workers," the bank said in a statement.
The central bank said remittances should rise further in 2004 despite growing competition from other major labour exporters like India due to brighter employment prospects in countries like the United States, one of the biggest labour market for Filipinos.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2004.