DUBAI – Filipinos working and living in the United Arab Emirates remitted $737.3 million (Dh2.7 billion) to the Philippines in January-August of this year, up by more than a quarter from the level in the same period last year, according to the Philippine central bank.
The 26.8% increase in remittance inflows from the Emirates in the eight-month period showed the biggest percentage rise among the major sources of remittances to the Philippines. This growth outpaced the increase in remittance inflows from other major sources of remittances including the US and UK.
This suggests that job creation in the UAE and deployment of Filipino workers to the Emirates are healthy as the Arab nation continues its economic recovery and development. There are over 600,000 Filipinos in the UAE.
The central bank said the other sources of worker remittances to the Philippines were the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Canada, and Japan. Remittance inflows in January-August period in the U.S. were up 7 percent from yearago; Saudi Arabia up 16.4 percent ; UK up 20.4 percent; and Singapore up 21.6 percent. Remittances from Canada fell 48 percent while repatriation from Japan went down 32.6 percent.
Across the globe, personal remittances from overseas Filipinos totaled $16 billion in January-August of this year, up 6.6 percent from the same period last year. In August alone, these remittances reached $2.1 billion, the fifth consecutive month that personal remittances exceeded the $2 billion mark.
Remittances from around 10 million Filipinos living and working abroad, who account for about 10 percent of the Philippine population, are the lifeblood of the Philippine economy, keeping consumer spending robust and providing support to the peso.
