Philippines' remittances from overseas workers spike by 8.5%

Monthly average soars to 5.8%.

According to DBS, remittances have continued to push higher despite considerable economic uncertainties over the past few quarters. The latest data point indicated that remittances grew by 8.5% YoY in October, taking the year-to-date monthly average to 5.8%.

Remittance from Asia was the outperformer, registering average growth of 13%, while Europe remains a laggard, with growth of just 0.5%. However, with the
worst of the Eurozone crisis likely subsiding, a continued recovery in remittance from the area is likely in the coming quarters.

Here's more from DBS:

In fact, remittance from Europe has already bottomed in level terms. Moreover a cyclical recovery for China appears to be underway and this should also help prop up remittance growth from Asia. As such, remittance growth of high single digit (8-9%), up from a projected 5.6% in 2012, is likely this year.

Notably, even when we account for remittance inflows in peso terms (to take into account the effect of domestic spending power), growth has been significant. For
November, remittance growth of 6.0% YoY has been penciled into our forecast.