by FFE PH News Staff

Remittances of overseas Filipinos (OF) to the Philippines has reached its all- time high last October at $2.3 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. announced on Tuesday.

The record is over 8 percent more than the remittances last October 2012. This also is the seventh consecutive month that the $2 billion mark has been breached.

On a cumulative basis, the January-October 2013 remittances amounting to $20.5 billion is higher by 6.8 percent from the same period last year.

The steady rise in remittances is from the sustained overseas demand for skilled and professional manpower from the Philippines, according to BSP as supported by data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).  POEA noted that there are 675,966 approved job orders for January-October 2013, two-fifths of these were of services, production, professional, and technical works.

Countries listed as major sources of cash remittances for January-October 2013 were the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Canada and Japan.

Meanwhile in Europe, remittances for October 2013 totaled to $348.3 million. It is topped by United Kingdom ($130 million) followed by Germany ($50.3 million), Norway ($42.6 million), Greece ($27.7 million), and Italy ($22.2 million).

BSP clarified however that the data may not be truly reflective of the actual source of remittance of OFs.

Instead of transferring the remittance straight to the Philippines, the common practice of remittance centers in various cities abroad is to course the money through correspondent banks mostly located in the US.  Therefore, US appear to be the main sources of OF remittances.