OFWs send home more money for start of school

MANILA, Philippines — Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have increased since June as families contend with education expenses in time for today’s official opening of classes in the country.

Earl Melivo, interim Asia-Pacific regional director of leading global payments giant WorldRemit, said they had seen a spike in remittances from all points of the globe into the Philippines.

The surge in remittances, which started in June and peaked in these past weeks of August, is deemed related to scheduled expenses on tuition and other school-related fees and supplies.

Based on WorldRemit’s monitoring, Philippine inbound remittance value amount has so far seen a surge of almost 30 percent from the month of June to July.

“For us, let’s say month on month, not counting this month of August which is not yet finished, but from June to July, probably an uplift of more than 10 percent at the very least,” Melivo told The STAR. “That’s high for a month on month.”

Looking at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas figures on remittance from May to June, he noted around a 20-percent rise or from P14 billion to P17 billion.

“I would say, that is roughly the same movement that we have. For Philippines overall, it’s upwards of almost 30 percent growth for World Remit (in inbound remittance value increase),” said Melivo, who used to head WorldRemit’s east and southeast Asia and Pacific islands-Receive Markets.

He also pointed out an increase in amounts of dollar remittances being sent by OFWs last July and this month, which could be attributed to the escalating prices of school supplies.

“In our assessment, tuition fees have not risen really. The main reason why our customers are sending more is because of school supplies,” Melivo said. “The higher the need of the recipients, essentially, the higher the amounts that are being sent.”

WorldRemit also observed the global inflation impact on the prices of school supplies as they have presence in 150 countries worldwide, said Melivo.

In the Philippines, it assessed a 40-percent hike in the cost of school supplies. “In other markets, we also see the same thing. In some countries, there’s even a 60-percent hike,” he said.