Remittances from Pinoys abroad up to $9.3B from January-May

..PERSONAL remittances of Filipinos abroad rose by 5.5 percent to US$9.3 billion during the first five months to May this year compared to the same period in 2011, the central bank said on Monday. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the steady expansion in personal remittances during the five-month period in 2012 was underpinned by the sustained growth in transfers from land-based overseas Filipino workers with work contracts of one year or more (by 2.7 percent), as well as sea-based workers and land-based workers with short-term contracts (by 14.7 percent). "For May 2012, personal remittances from OFs rose year-on-year by 5.2 percent to reach almost US$2.0 billion," he said. Meanwhile, remittances coursed through banks during the same period amounted to US$8.3 billion, higher by 5.3 percent relative to the level registered in the same period a year ago. Fund transfers from land-based workers increased by 2.8 percent to US$6.4 billion, while those from sea-based workers grew by 14.6 percent to US$1.9 billion. The cash remittances from land-based workers for the first five months of the year mostly came from the United States (28.9 percent), Canada (10.1 percent), Saudi Arabia (7.6 percent), the United Arab Emirates (3.9 percent), Japan (3.4 percent), the United Kingdom (3.2 percent), and Singapore (3.1 percent). Tetangco said the continued stream of remittances emanated from the strong global demand for professional and skilled Filipino workers. Preliminary data obtained from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) indicated that for the first half of the year, approved job orders reached 395,336, of which 29.1 percent consisted of processed job orders for service, production, and professional, technical, and related workers. The bulk of processed job orders were intended for the manpower requirements in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Taiwan. "Another contributory factor to the favorable trend in remittances is the continued expansion of banks' remittance network abroad through additional partnerships with foreign banks, money transfer operators and other remittance agents," Tetangco said. (SDR/Sunnex)