High Denzity

Remittances being sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are expected to double and reach to $21.4 billion in the next three years.

“Based on current yearly growth rates of 15 to 20 per cent on annual OFW remittances coursed through banks, it is likely to double to about $21.4 billion by 2010 from $10.7 billion posted in 2005,” said Alex Aguilar, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) spokesman.

Aguilar said that the increasing number of highly paid professionals and other skilled Filipino workers abroad would further boost the annual remittances.

In the first eight months of this year, OFWs were able to send home through banks at least $9.3 billion up by 15.3 percent from the remittances recorded in the same period last year. In 2005, remittances from OFWs reached to $10.7 billion.

“Those who are saying that the Philippines should stop relying on remittances are being ridiculous. The growth of remittances is definitely sustainable over the next several years,” he added.

While noting that deployment of OFWs drop by 3.7 percent compared to last year from January to August, Aguilar said remittances being sent home by OFWs continue to increase because of the deployment of highly skilled workers.

Because of this, Aguilar has asked the country’s electric cooperatives to explore the possibility of engaging in the remittance trade and help force down “excessive” money transfer charges.

Aguilar said the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperative Association (Philreca), which is comprised of 119 community-based distributors of electricity in the provinces, could definitely engage in such business.

“If we look at the experience of Mexico, credit unions and other cooperatives there have played a huge role in making it cheaper and faster for families of migrant Mexican workers in the United States to get their monthly remittances,” Aguilar said.

Moreover, Aguilar said “large credit cooperatives there serve as bulk remittance agents that are able to get concessions from banks and payment processing firms in terms of lower transfer charges.”

GMANews.TV