Remittances grew by 7% in Feb. — Bangko Sentral

Filipinos working and living abroad sent home $1.9 billion in personal remittances in February, up by 6.9 percent from $1.7 billion a year earlier, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Monday. "The steady deployment of overseas Filipino workers remained a primary contributory factor to the growth in remittance flows," the Bangko Sentral said. The February figure fueled remittances for the first two months of the year to increase by 7.6 percent to $3.7 billion from $3.5 billion in the same period last year. Cash remittances from overseas Filipinos coursed through banks increased by 6 percent to $1.7 billion in January from $1.6 billion a year earlier. This pushed the two-month tally for cash remittances to grow by 7 percent to $3.36 billion. The Bangko Sentral expects remittances to grow 5 percent this year. Remittances largely came from the United States (41.5 percent), Canada (9.8 percent), Saudi Arabia (7.9 percent), the United Kingdom (5.3percent), United Arab Emirates (4.5 percent), Singapore (4.1 percent), and Japan (3.5 percent). According to the Bangko Sentral, higher remittances "continued to draw strength" from the deployment  of overseas Filipino workers. Citing preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, the Bangko Sentral said approved job orders in the January to March reached 219,206, of which 24 percent were processed mainly for services, production, professional, technical and related workers. New financial products and services also helped address the needs of overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries when it comes to money transfers, the Bangko Sentral said. — SOA/VS, GMA News