EDITORIAL

Pinoy Workers Beat Other Canadian Immigrants

In Money Remittance

by ALEX P. VIDAL

VANCOUVER , British Columbia — Despite the global recession, the Philippines is on top of the world in terms of receiving dollars sent by its Canadian migrant workers.
Filipino immigrant workers have the highest frequency of overseas remittance compared to other nationalities working in Canada , according to Belinda Lim-Herrera, an executive of a global bank remittance that operates here.

She attributed this to the "Filipino culture" where immigrant workers remit their earnings to their extended family members—brothers and sisters, husbands, wives, parents and relatives "up to third degree in consanguinity."

In 2009, Filipino workers transmitted some $185 million to the Philippines with average of $35,000 remittance per month or $500 individually, disclosed Herrera.

She operates a global remittance bank with offices in Alberta , Ontario and Vancouver and has branches in 27 countries, including Greece and Italy.

STATISTICS
　

Citing Statistics Canada, Tracy Scott, senior manager of Payment and Card Services, RBC, said in the same interview that about 23 percent of immigrants sent remittances within six to 24 months of arrival in Canada.

Twenty nine percent did so within 25 to 48 months of arrival, it was reported.

The average amount sent within six to 24 months was $2,500. After 25-48 months in Canada , the average amount sent overseas was $2,900, Statistics Canada added.
Dilip Ratha, lead economist of World Bank Development Prospects Group, who was guest in the same interview, said "the money remitted overseas last year was three times than the money intended for development assistance."

Some $316 billion was remitted by overseas workers to India , China , Mexico , Philippines and other countries in 2009, said Ratha. The amount is expected to reach $335 billion this year with increase of 6.2 percent and $360 billion in 2011, he added.
　

TOP 10 COUNTRIES
　

The top ten remittance recipients are: 1. India , 2. China , 3. Mexico , 4. Philippines , 5. France , 6.Bangladesh, 7. Spain , 8. Germany , 9. Nigeria and 10. Belgium.

In recent years, overseas workers from Asia have been sending remittances of about $8 billion annually to their home countries. These remittances are an important source of precious foreign exchange for the major labor-exporting countries, according to a study by Charles Stahl of the University of New Castle and Fred Arnold of East-West Population Institute, East-west Center .

"The overall develop-ment impact of remittances, however, has not been well established. Remittances are spent primarily on day-to-day consumption expenditures, housing, land purchase, and debt repayment," they reported.

Although only a small proportion of remittances are directed into productive investments, this does not warrant the conclusion that the developmental value of remittances is negligible, they added.

Remittances spent on domestic goods and services in Asia reportedly provide an important stimulus to indigenous industries and to the economies of the labor supplying countries./MP