Remittances to Philippines down by 5.4 pct in July
Xinhua, September 15, 2016 Adjust font size:
Philippine remittances slowed down to 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in July, 5.4 percent lower compared to the level a year ago, the local central bank said Thursday.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. cited a decline in the deployment of skilled Filipino workers abroad.
A preliminary report from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that the number of deployed land-based workers who were new hires dropped by 10.3 percent year-on-year to 235,895, while that of sea-based workers fell by 44.4 percent to 134,360, he said.
Remittances, however, from January to July jumped by 2.9 percent year-on-year to 16.9 billion U.S. dollars, Tetangco said.
Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks summed up to 15.3 billion U.S. dollars for the period January to July, representing a growth of 3 percent year-on-year. In particular, cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers totaled 12.1 billion U.S. dollars and 3.3 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.
About 80 percent of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Britain, Japan, Qatar, Kuwait, China's Hong Kong, and Germany, the central bank said. Endit