Manila - Dollar remittances from overseas Filipinos grew by
a mere 2.7 per cent in the first quarter of the year amid the global
financial crisis, the government said Friday.
The growth rate was down from 24 per cent in the same
January-March period in 2008, the central bank said.
Remittances in the first quarter totalled 4.06 billion dollars,
compared with 3.95 billion dollars in the same period in 2008, the
central bank said.
In March alone, remittances rose 3.1 per cent from the same month
last year to 1.47 billion dollars.
'Remittance flows continued to be shored up by the steady demand
for Filipino skills abroad and the wider access to expanded money
transfer services,' the central bank said in a statement.
Records from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
showed that the total number of Filipinos who found jobs abroad rose
27.3 per cent in the first two months of the year.
'Philippine overseas labour offices have reported new job
opportunities in markets that have not been severely affected by the
global financial strains,' the central bank said.
'These developments provide continued optimism for stability in
remittances,' it added.
In the first quarter, the major sources of dollar remittances were
Filipinos from the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan,
Britain, Singapore, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Germany.
In 2008, overseas Filipino remittances posted a 13.7-per-cent
growth to 16.42 billion dollars.
The central bank expected annual remittances, which account for at
least 10 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, to remain
flat this year.
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