Philippines posts 22.9pc drop in cash remittance from Bahrain

Manila : Cash remittance from Filipino workers (OFW), particularly those in the Middle East, saw a steep decline from January to July this year, according to the figures released by the Central Bank of the Philippines (BSP). Based on latest BSP data, there was 15 per cent decrease in remittances from OFWs in the Middle East, although fund transfers from Libya and Israel fell the most at 73pc and 61pc respectively, Arab News reported.

Remittances from Kuwait fell by 20.4pc despite the resumption of OFW deployment last May. Bahrain showed negative 22.9pc, transfers from Oman dropped by 38.3pc and Saudi Arabia showed a slide of 10.4pc. Meanwhile, aside from the decrease in cash remittance, the Philippines also suffered a decline in deployment of OFWs in 2017 after 10 years of continuous growth. A decrease in the number of new hires was also noted in the rest of the top ten OFW destinations, which include Kuwait, Qatar, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the UAE, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Oman.