Filipinos cut back on remittances as financial crisis bites

Hong Kong-based Philippine bankers say the city's Filipino community has significantly reduced remittances home as the global recession bites deeper into the local economy.

Remittances to the Philippines from the millions of Filipinos working worldwide hit a record US$14 billion in 2007, with economists agreeing they have propped up the Philippine economy through successive financial crises in the region.

Hong Kong, which has 126,000 Filipino domestic helpers and about 10,000 professionals or residents, is among the top sources of remittances to the Philippines. Last year, Filipinos sent home a total of US$383.1 million through official banking channels, according to Philippines central bank data.

Many Filipinos often use unofficial remittance centres or door-to-door money transfers not reported to the central bank.

But bankers and workers' leaders told the Sunday Morning Post that the good days were over, judging by the amount of money Filipinos sent home last month for Christmas.

Ponciano Duldulao, operations officer at DBP Remittance Centre Hong Kong, said Filipinos' remittances last month dropped in value by 14 per cent compared with the previous month. The number of remittances also fell 20 per cent. DBP centre is a subsidiary of the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).