RP overseas workers remittances up 28%

RP overseas workers remittances up 28%

MANILA: Overseas Filipino workers sent home some US$7 billion to the Philippines in the first eight months of the year, a 28 percent rise over the same period last year, the central bank said on Friday.

Remittances in August alone grew more than 28 percent to $954 million, it said in a statement.

"Given the more than 20 percent year-on-year expansion that has prevailed since February, remittances are expected to remain strong going into the (Christmas) holiday season," the bank remarked.

Economic planners have previously forecast remittances would reach about $10 billion this year.

The central bank said the "vigorous marketing campaign" of commercial banks to encourage more Filipinos to send their money back home through official banking channels accounted for the increase, along with the growing number of Filipinos who are going abroad to work.

Almost eight million Filipinos, out of a population of 84 million, have left the country to seek work abroad, attracted by salaries that far outstrip what they could earn at home.

Their remittances are the Philippines' largest source of foreign exchange, propping up the country even during times of financial crisis. -- AFP