MANILA, Philippines - Cash remittances from Filipinos overseas, which help power domestic consumption, grew 5.3% to $1.94 billion in September, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed. This was the highest level since December.
Remittances in January to September reached $16.5 billion, up 5.8 percent from last year.
The steady deployment of overseas Filipino workers remained one of the key drivers of growth in remittance flows, the central bank said in a statement.
Total personal remittances, which represent the sum of net compensation, household-to-household transfers in cash and kind, and capital transfers of overseas Filipino workers, rose 6.8 percent in September from a year earlier to $2.14 billion.
The central bank expects cash remittances from Filipinos abroad to grow 5 percent this year. Cash remittances in 2012 reached $21.39 billion, up 6.3 percent from a year earlier.
The major sources of cash remittances in September were the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Canada and Japan. Remittances have held up well despite the global economic turmoil, keeping domestic consumption robust, which in turn helped offset weak global demand for the country's exports.
A super typhoon that devastated the central Philippines could slow the country's economic growth in the fourth quarter, but the government's full-year target of 6-7 percent is still within reach, according to Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
