REMITTANCES FROM SEAFARERS UP 11.3%
MANILA, NOVEMBER 1, 2010 (STAR) By Mayen Jaymalin - The continuing rise in deployment of Filipino seafarers abroad pushed up remittances from the sector by $250 million from last year, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines reported yesterday.
The TUCP said in the first eight months of the year, Filipino sailors aboard foreign-flagged ocean-going vessels wired home a total of $2.461 billion or 11.31 percent more than the $2.211 billion they remitted over the same period in 2009.
TUCP secretary-general Ernesto Herrera said with the current double-digit growth rate, the full year remittance from Filipino seamen is expected to hit $3.7 billion by yearend.
"The foreign exchange coming in from sea-based migrant Filipino workers is growing twice faster than those coming in from their land-based counterparts," he said.
"The intercontinental maritime transport of all kinds of commodities is growing along with global population expansion. Thus, the ever-increasing demand for a fresh supply of sailors."
The total remittances coursed through banks by all land- and sea-based migrant Filipino workers increased by $839 million or 7.40 percent, to $12.181 billion in the first eight months from $11.342 billion in the same period in 2009.
Remittances from land-based workers alone increased by $589 million or 6.45 percent to $9.720 billion from $9.131 billion from last year.
Filipino sailors on mostly foreign merchant ships wired home a total of $3.4 billion in the whole of 2009, up $366 million from $3.034 billion in 2008.
The 12.06 percent growth in remittances from sea-based migrant Filipino workers in 2009 was nearly three times faster than the 4.15 percent or $555 million year-on-year increase in the cash sent home by their land-based counterparts.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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