The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Wednesday that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) sent home some $2.37 million in remittances in November 2019, 2 percent higher than the total amount they sent a year ago.
The BSP said total remittances in January to November 2019 rose to $27.2 billion, 4.4 percent higher than the previous year’s $26.1 billion.
“By type of worker, cash remittances from land-based and sea-based workers increased by 3.6 percent to $21.3 billion, and 7.3 percent to $6 billion, respectively,” the BSP said in a statement.
By country source, BSP data showed that the United States is still the highest country source of OFW remittances during the period, accounting for 37.7 percent of total money transfers in January to November 2019.
This was followed by Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Japan, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany and Qatar. The combined remittances from these countries accounted for 78.4 percent of total cash remittances during the period.
In a recent roundtable discussion with the BusinessMirror, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Executive Vice President and Corporate Banking Head Juan Carlos Syquia said the Philippine banking sector will likely feel the effect of the Middle East tensions largely through expectations of declines in remittances.
“Definitely their [OFWs] jobs will be compromised. At the best, compromised, at the worst lost. In the banking aspect I think it will be affected especially as this [US-Iran tiff] escalates. We will watch its effect not only on the banking sector but on the economy,” said Syquia.
Just last week, President Duterte ordered the mandatory repatriation of Filipinos living and working in Iraq, due to the tensions between Iran and the US. Iraq was dragged into the fray because it hosts US bases.
It was also near Baghdad’s airport where a US air strike on January 3 killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
On Wednesday, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration approved a total ban on the deployment of OFWs to Kuwait following the death of a Filipina migrant worker last December.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III wanted a total deployment to Kuwait after the Kuwaiti government failed to disclose in its autopsy report that Jeanelyn Villavende was also sexually violated.
Under a total deployment ban, all job categories of OFWs, regardless of whether they are newly hired or returning (balik manggagawa), will no longer be allowed to go to a destination country.
Bello noted that his proposed deployment ban will also cover vacationing OFWs.
Latest data from Department of Labor and Employment revealed there are 243,843 Filipinos workers in Kuwait.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza