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Remittances from Filipinos working abroad expanded at
the fastest pace in four months in August as more
overseas nationals sent more money home through banks.
Funds
sent back to the
Philippines
rose 10.6 percent from a year earlier to $1.21 billion,
the central bank said in a statement today. Remittances
grew 4.6 percent in July. Banks have been expanding
outlets overseas to attract funds from Filipinos who
have traditionally had friends or coworkers carry cash
home.
Remittances from about one in 10 Filipinos working
abroad have helped the economy grow at the fastest pace
in two decades by buoying consumer spending. The
International Monetary Fund says there are “natural
limits’’ to reliance on labor exports and more
investment is needed if the Philippines is to move to a
“decisively stronger’’ growth path.
The
number of Filipinos leaving the country to take up jobs
abroad fell 3.7 percent for the first eight months from
a year earlier to 726,620, according to the statement.
Unemployment in the nation of 91 million people was 7.8
percent as of July, trailing only Indonesia among 17
Asia-Pacific countries tracked by Bloomberg.
Funds
sent home jumped 15.3 percent to $9.3 billion in the
first eight months from a year earlier. Remittances,
which account for a 10th of the economy, helped
accelerate second-quarter economic growth to 7.5 percent
from a year earlier. The government is counting on a
10-percent rise in the funds to help expand the economy
this year by as much as 6.7 percent from 5.5 percent in
2006.
---Bloomberg |
