Gulf’s demand for Filipino expat workers boosts remittances

Published:  22 Jun at 2 PM
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The high demand for Filipino workers in a number of Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and UAE, has increased the remittance value during the opening months of 2015.

Philippines’ central bank governor Amando Tetangco said that a total of US$8.6bn was sent home by Filipinos across the globe between January and April – 5.1 per cent higher than the same period in 2015.

The majority of the funds were sent from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, the US, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore and Japan, according to the bank.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) approved 310,727 job orders in the opening four months of the year, with just over a third of them (33.8 per cent) being in service, technical, production and professional roles in the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan.

In total, the majority of personal remittances to the Southeast Asian nation (74 per cent) came from workers with contracts a minimum of one year, with US$6.4bn being sent from these workers. Some 24 per cent (US$2.1bn) came from workers with contracts of 12 months or less.

Meanwhile, just under two per cent (US$0.2bn) were household-to-household transfers in which expats send funds to family members in the Philippines.
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