OFW remittances may grow by 3.3% this year

MANILA, Philippines — Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) may bounce back with a growth of 3.3 percent this year as the global economy recovers from COVID-19, according to Malaysian financial giant Maybank.

Suhaimi Ilias, chief economist at Maybank, said global economic recovery is picking up pace as shown by the notable improvements in global composite purchasing managers index or PMI (54.8), global manufacturing PMI (55) and global services PMI (54.7).

“This is encouraging for remittances from the oil-producing Middle East economies,” Ilias said.

In separate report from Maybank Kim Eng, the International Labor Affairs Bureau of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) showed 645,071 OFWs were displaced due to the economic fallout from COVID-19.

As of early April, a total of 502,581 OFWs who lost their jobs have returned and transported back to their home provinces after relevant test and quarantine procedures.

Furthermore, another 49,698 jobless OFWs have requested for repatriation process, while 75,297 opted to remain abroad.

The Philippine government has set up the Abot Kamay ang Pagtulong (AKAP) aid program that provides a one-time P10,000 cash aid to qualified OFWs.

It was estimated that the government has so far spent around P5.1 trillion in cash assistance to over 500,000 OFWs who returned to the country.

Separately, a total of 17,495 OFWs were confirmed COVID-19 cases based on reporting from global Philippine Overseas Labor Offices, of which 10,155 recovered while 938 died.

Latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed remittances from OFWs recovered with a growth of more than one percent in the first two months amid the start of the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines globally.

Personal remittances, including all current transfers in cash or in kind by OFWs, as well as other household-to-household transfers between Filipinos who have migrated abroad and their families in the Philippines, inched up by 1.6 percent to $6.65 billion in January and February compared to $5.57 billion in the same period last year.

Likewise, cash remittances coursed through banks coming from the US, Malaysia, and Singapore increased by 1.5 percent to $5.08 billion from $5 billion.