Remittances to Phil. increasing By ALDWIN R. FAJARDO

A growing number of overseas Filipino workers in the CNMI have started coursing their money through a Philippine-government controlled remittance company in the islands.

Filipino workers here have remitted more than $3 million through the Philippine National Bank foreign exchange center in the Northern Marianas for the third quarter of last year, rallying stronger than its performance during the same period in 1998.

The July-September 1999 figure has doubled compared with the previous year of the same period’s $1.5 million.

PNB Forex general manager Raul Boongaling pointed out the development is in line with the increasing awareness among Filipino workers in the islands about how their remittances help nourish the Philippine economy.

Boongaling explained that the PNB forex center will directly remit the dollars to Philippine banks, which will ensure that the greenback will circulate within the local economy.

The figure represents over 50 percent of the average annual remittances made by 10 registered companies in the Northern Marianas engaged in money transfer activities.

On the average, each of the 10 remittance centers send $4.9 million to the Philippines if it would be based on the 1998 figure of $49 million and if the amount would be divided equally among the 10 companies.

Worldwide, total remittances of PNB’s overseas offices and subsidiaries reached $427.3 million for the first quarter of 1999, surpassing the previous year’s figure of $306 million by 40 percent and target of $363.2 million by 18 percent.

Volume of remittances of the US and Micronesia offices of $197.6 million is 88 percent above the target of $105 million, and 126 percent better than the previous year’s volume of $87.4 million.

PNB’s US and Micronesia offices account for 46 percent of the total remittance volume of the bank’s overseas offices and subsidiaries. PNB Corp. in Guam and Saipan collectively registered the highest percentage increase of 475 percent last year.

PNB Remittance Center in the CNMI has already expanded to four sub-centers in San Antonio, Chalan Kanoa, Garapan, Tinian and Rota since it opened in March 1998.

This could be attributed to the number of Filipino workers in the CNMI which, according to the Philippine Labor Office’s previous report, has increased to 16,239 from 1997’s 12,082.

PNB is a Philippine government-controlled banking institution. Its remittance center offers bank-to-bank transfer, as well as dollar-to-peso and dollar-to-dollar services to major cities and provinces in the Philippines.

Remittances of the more than half a million overseas Filipino workers helped nourish the Philippine economy during the time when foreign investor discontent in Asian financial markets caused a mass departure in capital.

The Philippine Central Bank considers remittances made by OFWs a vital source of dollars for the country’s economy, though the absence of dollars in the local foreign exchange market last year drove the Philippine currency past the PhP40:$1 level.