Less households that receive remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are saving money, a survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed.
The survey revealed that only 32.7 percent of OFW families set aside money from remittances as savings during the third quarter of the year, an almost 2 percent drop from 33. 9 percent reported in the second quarter of 2018.
Meanwhile, 94.4 percent of OFW families use remittances for food and other daily needs while 47.7 percent OFW families set aside money for medical expenses.
The number of OFW families that used remittances for debt payment (24.6 percent), house purchase (11.8 percent), vehicle purchase (9.4 percent) also increased while OFW families setting aside money for education (63 percent), appliance purchase (19.2 percent), and investment (4.2 percent) decreased.
On a larger scale, the number of Filipino households that save also decreased from 37. 4 percent in the previous quarter to 32.5 percent in the third quarter.
The survey was conducted from July 1 to 14, 2018. Of 5,580 households surveyed nationwide, 449 are OFW families.
