Economic Impact
In 2012, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, expects official remittances coursed through banks and agents to grow 5% over 2011 to US$21 billion, but official remittances are only a fraction of all remittances. Remittances by unofficial, including illegal, channels are estimated by the Asian Bankers Association to be 30 to 40% higher than the official BSP figure. In 2011, remittances were US$20.117 billion.
This Philippines is the fourth largest recipient of official remittances after China, India, and Mexico. OFW remittances represent 13.5% of the country's GDP, the largest in proportion to the domestic economy among the four countries.
In 2012, approximately 80% of the remittances came from only 7 countries--United States and Canada, the United Kingdom, UAE and Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Japan. These countries are widely dispersed around the globe--in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, respectively.
Read more about this topic: Overseas Filipino
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