Only 35% OFWs Able to Save from Remittances
MANILA: The number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) able to save money from their remittances dropped to only over a third of total in 2014, the latest survey on migrant workers has revealed.
Only two in every five OFWs, or 35.2 percent, of those who sent cash remittances to their families were able to generate savings last year, Philippine Star quoted the 2014 Survey of Overseas Filipinos released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) as saying.
The survey, covering the period from April to September 2014, compares with the 40.8 percent of the total number of OFWs who have savings from remittances sent to their families in the same period in 2013, the report said.
“Regardless of the amount of the cash remittances sent, about six in every 10 (62.5 percent) OFWs [with savings] were able to set aside less than 25 percent of the total amount received,” the PSA reportedly said.
The survey reportedly showed 22.3 percent of those with savings were able to set aside 25 percent to 49 percent of their remittances.
Meanwhile, only 15.2 percent were able to save at least 50 percent of the money sent back to their families. Total remittances sent by OFWs during the survey period was estimated at P173.2 billion, 6.6 percent higher from P162.4 billion a year earlier, said the news portal.
Reportedly, the total included cash sent home, cash brought home and remittances in kind. For both survey periods in 2013 and 2014, cash sent home covered at least 70 percent of the total remittances.
The latest survey also showed OFWs working in Asia sent the biggest cash remittances in 2014, totaling P92.6 billion or 73 percent, the PSA was quoted as saying by Philippine Star.