By The SUN
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| Despite a more than 5k drop in their numbers, OFWs in HK still sent more money home last year |
Filipinos overseas defied massive job losses, forced leaves and huge salary cuts in the wake of the pandemic, and still managed to send home US$33.19 billion last year.
This was just 0.8% lower than their total personal remittances
of $33.47 billion in 2019.
Filipinos in Hong Kong, in fact, boosted their remittances by 2.4% to US$821 million last year, statistics from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show, despite a massive drop of more than 5,000 in their numbers.
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This made the SAR one of eight overseas destinations for
Filipinos that recorded an increase last year. The others are the
Filipinos who are in Saudi Arabia, Japan, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Germany, and Kuwait sent less money last year.
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| Filipinos send more money and goods through informal channels instead of banks |
BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said personal remittances slipped by 0.8 percent,
while cash remittances coursed through banks also contracted by 0.8 percent
last year.
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This was way lower than the predicted two percent drop for 2020, but still ended 19 consecutive years of growth.
Remittances last fell by about US$200 million in 2001 primarily due to lingering effects of the Asian financial crisis and the political turmoil during the Estrada administration.
“The actual decline in 2020 was, however, lower than the earlier forecast contraction of two percent for the year,” Diokno said.
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The BSP chief pointed out that personal remittances amounted to $29.9 billion last year, or $230 million lower than the all-time high of $30.13 billion posted in 2019.
That still accounted for 9.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 8.5 percent of gross national income (GNI) last year.
Cash remittances, which only count money coursed through banks, hit US$2.89 billion, down 0.4% from US$2.9 billion a year ago.
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Despite the overseas Filipinos' “heroic act” of boosting the country’s economy, remittances have actually contracted by 4.8% in Philippine peso terms, according to ING Bank Manila senior economic Nicholas Mapa.
He said the strength of the peso, brought about by the weakness of the Philippine economy, has negatively impacted household relying on dollars.
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Other analysts say remittances could further fall in the first quarter of the year, but the vaccine rollouts across the globe brighten prospects for OFs in the coming months.
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