OFW remittances to contract by 0.2 to 0.8 percentage point in 2020 —BSP

Money sent home by Filipinos abroad are seen to contract this year resulting from the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on overseas workers, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.

“The baseline assumption is that remittances will grow 3% in 2020,” BSP Assistant Governor Illuminada Sicat said in a virtual press briefing.

Last year, remittances grew 4.1% to $30.1 billion from $28.9 billion in 2018.

“[B]ut considering there are already OFWs being repatriated particularly from the sea-based sector, we see there will be a contraction in remittances by about .2 to .8 percentage point,” Sicat said.

The central bank official, however, said that there might be more contractions in remittances amid emerging scenarios related to the pandemic.

“The uncertainty is linked to the fact that we’re not sure how quickly global trade activity will rebound over the next years,” BSP Director for Economic Research Dennis Lapid said.—AOL, GMA News