OFW line up to send money at a remittance center in the central district of Hong Kong in this 2008 file photo. Given expectations that remittances would continue to increase this year and that export earnings would rebound moderately from last year's contraction, the central bank projects that the GIR would hit at least $79 billion by the end of the year. AFP PHOTO/TED ALJIBE
Overseas Filipino remittances hit record $1.93-B in Oct., Bangko Sentral reports
Money sent home by Filipinos living and working abroad hit a record $1.93 billion in October, helped by more choices with which to send money back to the Philippines.
In a statement Monday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said cash remittance inflow rose by 8.5 percent from $1.84 billion in October 2012 .
The latest figure boosted remittances in the first 10 months to $17.49 billion, up by 5.8 percent from $16.53 billion year on year.
The Bangko Sentral sees cash remittances increasing by 5 percent this year from the $20.11 billion in 2011.
"Remittances flows were supported by steady deployment of skilled and professional Filipino manpower abroad, combined with commercial banks' continued efforts to build up their network of remittance business partners worldwide," the Bangko Sentral said.
Demand for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) supports "favorable outlook for remittances through end-2012," it added.
Some 302,173 job orders were processed in October, accounting for 41.9 percent of the 721,338 jobs approved as of November, preliminary data from Philippine Overseas Employment Administration showed.
The trend is consistent with a World Bank findings that money sent home by OFWs would lift the Philippines to the third spot in the list of countries with the highest remittance inflow this year.
The multilateral lender noted that Filipinos are likely to send home a record $24 billion this year.
Over 10 million OFWs send remittances, which fuel domestic consumption and keep the economy afloat (http://is.gd/H7V6zi)
Filipino exporters see 2013 shipments growing 11%
Philippines will grow by 11 percent next year, driven by the services and electronics sectors, according to the Philippine Exporters Confederation.
PhilExport president Sergio Ortiz-Luis believes that eletronics would continue to recover in 2013
"Electronics I think will improve somehow," Ortiz-Luis noted in a statement, saying he did not thing the slump in the sector would last forever. "It will end sooner or later maybe towards the beginning of 2013," he added.
"On the services side, it would be tourism and BPOs [business process outsourcing]," he said. "They are exactly as big as the electronics," the PhilExport official said, noting that electronics account for almost half of total exports.
He urged exports to look beyond the persisting fiscal and economic problems in the Europe and the United States, and the strong peso that impacts on their receipts, by searching for and developing new markets and constant product innovation.
In the first 10 months of the year, exports reached $44.475 billion – up 7.1-percent year-on-year.
The export sector expected a 9 to 10-percent growth this year, and Ortiz-Luis noted the target was achievable since exports rebounded last September.
Trade Undersecretary Cristino Panlilio expect exporters to do what they could to top the record revenues of $51.4 billion in 2010.
"I believe they can do $12 billion more for the remainder of the year," Panlilio said during the National Export Congress in Manila early this month. (http://is.gd/Hm0b0m)
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