By Joann Santiago
MANILA, Nov. 16 (PNA) — Cash remittances from Filipinos overseas posted a big jump in September 2015 when it grew by 4.3 percent year-on-year against the previous months 0.6 percent contraction.
Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Monday showed that cash remittances amounted to USD 2.20 billion in the ninth month this year, better than month-ago’s USD 2.04 billion and year-ago’s USD 2.11 billion.
At the end of the third quarter this year, total cash remittances amounted to USD 18.41 billion, 4.1 percent higher than the USD 17.86 billion in end-September 2014.
Bulk of these came from the US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, UK, Japan, Hong Kong, and Canada.
“The continued demand for OF (overseas Filipino) workers remained the key driver of sustained remittance inflows,” BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a statement.
Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the central bank chief said processed job orders reached 41.6 pecent of the total 663,112.
The job orders are requirements for the service, production and professional, technical and related workers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Relatively, Nicholas Antonio Mapa, research officer of the Market Reseach and Strategy of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI), traced this improvement to the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep rates steady during its policy meeting last September.
He said the Fed’s decision to maintain the key rates disappointed the markets resulting to the weakness in the greenback due to global growth concerns. (PNA)