Gov’t urged: Tap OFWs as source of investments

nquirer
Last updated 06:03am (Mla time) 04/29/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Sen. Edgardo Angara has urged the government to capitalize on the remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) as a viable investment source.

‘‘Money in the range of $12 to $14 billion per year constitutes an awesome money pool which can be partly channeled into sound investments. And this can only be done by the OFWs wisely if they are financially literate and they are well-versed with various investment choices,” said Angara, who chairs the Senate Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions. [Read more]

Netherlands: Crown prince criticises integration debate

Saturday 28 April 2007

The hard attitudes in the ongoing debate over the integration of immigrants in the Netherlands is 'worrying' and 'destructive', crown prince Willem-Alexander said in a major television documentary marking his 40th birthday on Friday.

'There is a reason why we have the proverb, 'talk is silver, silence is gold',' the prince said. 'Sometimes it would be good if people did not react off the cuff, but took the time to think and then speak.' [Read more]

Netherlands: Agreement on refugee amnesty

Saturday 28 April 2007

The cabinet and local authorities have reached agreement on the main points of the long-awaited amnesty (general pardon) for asylum seekers, junior justice minister Nebahat Albayrak confirmed on Friday evening.

Details are not yet being made public, but Albayrak has agreed to make €55m available to local councils to pay for housing and other costs.

It is still not clear how many asylum seekers will be covered by the measure which will apply to people who arrived in the Netherlands before April 2001. Refugee organisation Vluchtelingenwerk told the Volkskrant between 20,000 and 30,000 individuals could be involved.

The cabinet has also agreed that people who lied once about their identity would also be eligible for a residency permit, to the fury of right-wing parties. 'That is completely scandalous,' Liberal (VVD) MP Henk Kamp told news agency ANP.

Source:

Chamber of Commerce for OFWs pushed

By Jeremaiah M. Opiniano, Kristy Anne C. Topacio-Manalaysay
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 09:04am (Mla time) 04/26/2007

MANILA–PEOPLE who built their business from working abroad are moving to form a Chamber of Commerce to lure more overseas Filipino workers into becoming entrepreneurs.

“Instead of going to greedy local businessmen, fellow OFWs can go to themselves and make arrangements to supply some raw materials, or even provide discounts to some of their products to fellow OFW entrepreneurs,” businessman Miguel Bolos told the OFW Journalism Consortium.

Bolos spoke about the moves to form an organization after a meeting of former overseas Filipino workers-turned-entrepreneurs early March. [Read more]

UN rural development arm provides over $100 million to fight poverty worldwide

20 April 2007 – The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced today that it will provide over $100 million to combat rural poverty in eight developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

IFAD’s Executive Board, which met at the agency’s headquarters in Rome from 17 to 18 April, decided the money – $63.5 million in loans and $59.2 million in grants – is earmarked for Burundi, Cambodia, Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Paraguay, Sierra Leone and Syria. [Read more]

Diaspora has deep pockets to build Kenya

By Matunda Nyanchama

It is said Kenyans abroad remit home close to $1 billion (Sh70 billion) annually.

The remittances have served the country in many ways, including stabilising the shilling. The Government has recognised the potential of Kenyans in the Diaspora. In the past few months, there has been a whirlwind of Government activity to speak, entice and persuade Kenyans abroad to do more for the country’s economic growth. The message has been two-fold: The Diaspora could do more in direct investment and become agents that influence the flow of foreign investment.[Read more]

Hidden fees eat into income remittances from overseas

Posted: 1:04 AM | Apr. 24, 2004

Maria Salve Duplito
INQ7.net

LIKE most overseas Filipino workers, Maria Dinah Abalos used money transfer organizations when sending money to her family in the southern city of Butuan from China, where she worked as a teacher last year.

She told INQ7money she had a vague idea that the fees were steeper than those of banks or credit unions, but what the heck, she said, "It's just a small amount every time I sent money."

This lack of willingness to shop around for the best rates or refusal to understand the process of remittances and find alternative ways of sending money home at a lower cost eats into the incomes overseas Filipino workers remit to their families.[Read more]

Sri Lanka foreign employment agencies tap the South Korean employment market

Friday, April 27, 2007, 13:59 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Apr 27, Colombo: Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) and the Government Foreign Employment Agency have decided to work together to exploit the foreign employment market in South Korea, an SLFEB spokesman said. [Read more]

Forex reserves seen at $26B by yearend

By Des Ferriols
The Philippine Star 04/27/2007

The country’s gross foreign reserves are expected to rise to as much as $26 billion by the end of the year as a result of strong inflows from foreign investments, government borrowing, export earnings and remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said yesterday.

The country’s foreign reserves have hit record highs each month since the start of 2007, partly due to income from over eight million Filipinos working abroad.

OFW remittances rose to $1.1 billion in February, the 10th straight month that inflows have breached $1 billion.
[Read more]

Advocates want say in Malacañang OFW bank bid

By JULIE JAVELLANA-SANTOS

Migrant advocates may be split on Malacañang’s go-ahead to build a bank of overseas migrant workers via migrant workers’ pooled funds but they agreed OFWs should be given say; some even ownership of the project.

"This government move again insulted many unsung heroes by diverting our money without due consultation," wrote Ronnie Abeto of the Saudi Arabia-based Pusong Mamon Task Force, one of several groups of overseas Filipinos connected to the Internet.

"The issue here is not actually the creation of an overseas Filipino workers’ bank, but the use of OWWA funds," an email by another Saudi Arabia-based OFW, Francis Oca, said. [read more]

Peso rises to 47.455 to $1 on big OFW inflows

By Michelle Remo
Inquirer
Last updated 03:20am (Mla time) 04/26/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The peso strengthened further Wednesday, breaching the psychological level of 47.50 to the dollar, hitting a new six-year intraday high of 47.45 on large dollar inflows, analysts said.

The peso opened at 47.58 to the dollar and closed at 47.455, compared with Tuesday’s finish of 47.53. Volume of trade reached $658.3 million.

The strengthening of the peso “is still due to large inflows of remittances from overseas Filipino workers and investments into the equities market,” said Jonathan Ravelas, market strategist at Banco de Oro Universal Bank. [Read more]

High-skill Indian migrants in UK may vote against Labour

IANS Friday 20th April, 2007

As Britain takes more steps to tighten its immigration system, thousands of highly skilled migrants from India and other non-European Union countries adversely affected by recent changes to immigration rules are preparing to vote against Labour candidates during the May 3 local elections in England, Scotland and Wales.

The skilled migrants from India are among a million migrants who have voting rights in the UK, according to a law passed in 1918. The law allows people from Commonwealth countries, including those with large communities here, such as Australia, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria and Pakistan are entitled to vote in both local and general elections in the UK. [Read more]

A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves

On June 25, 1980 (a date he would remember), a good-natured Filipino pool-maintenance man gathered his wife and five children for an upsetting ride to the Manila airport. At 36, Emmet Comodas had lived a hard life without growing hardened, which was a mixed blessing given the indignities of his poverty. Orphaned at 8, raised on the Manila streets where he hawked cigarettes, he had hustled a job at a government sports complex and held it for nearly two decades. On the spectrum of Filipino poverty, that alone marked him as a man of modest fortune. But a monthly salary of $50 did not keep his family fed. [Read More]

Yemen-Horn of Africa: 130 migrants die after coast guards open fire

ANAA, 15 April 2007 (IRIN) - Somali community leaders in Sana'a said on Saturday that 130 African migrants died at sea when their boat capsized off the Yemeni coast after coast guards opened fire on them.

Three boats carrying 460 African migrants, Somalis and Ethiopians, left the Somali port of Bossaso on 9 April and arrived in Yemeni regional waters late on 12 April.

“As the smuggling boats entered the Yemeni waters, coast guards began firing on them, causing one boat to capsize,” Sadat Mohammed, head of refugee affairs in the Somali community in Sana’a, told IRIN.

“The boat was carrying African migrants, most of whom were women from Ethiopia. The shooting forced the terrified passengers to move and they couldn’t maintain their balance. Their boat capsized as a result,” Mohammed added. [Read more]

Oxfam Novib: Remittances must contribute to development

Oxfam Novib wants to better use remittances – migrants’ transfers to their families – for development in the countries of origin. Many people in developing countries have relatives who have moved to the ‘big city’ or abroad. These migrants are sending money to their families.

Family networks
One of the opportunities Oxfam Novib sees, for this money to contribute to community development in the countries of origin, is for these transfers to go via micro-finance institutions (MFIs). They can support the home front and stimulate that the money be spent on progress and development as much as possible. Another wish of Oxfam Novib is for governments of countries where migrants are working to give remittances a fiscally favourable regime.

Innovations
The attention to remittances is one of the four innovations in Oxfam Novib’s work. The Business Plan for the coming four years had already announced them. The 2007 Annual Plan has worked them out. The other three innovations are:

• The promotion of safe, democratic and inclusive education, by linking education with gender and HIV and AIDS. Boys and girls thus learn how to treat each other. Sexual violence and HIV and AIDS drop. Active citizenship is encouraged at the same time.
• Inclusive democracy. Together with counterparts Oxfam Novib is going to elaborate on this concept in project work. In the Netherlands this takes the form of Reverse Development Co-operation.
• The promotion of transformative leadership, which can bring about real changes, above all through the involvement of women in developing countries. An example is the global ‘WE CAN end all violence against women’ campaign. Oxfam Novib wants to transform this campaign into ‘WE CAN build inclusive democracies.’

Project plans for these four innovations have in the meantime been drawn up. In 2007 existing experience and expertise are mapped and pilots are launched. There must be worked out plans for the period of 2008 to 2010 inside a year. (Link)

Bangladesh eyes $10 bln remittances by 2010

Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:28 PM IST

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh expects expatriate workers to send home $5.5 billion in the year to end-June, a figure that could almost double to $10 billion a year in the next three years, a senior central bank official said on Sunday.

"It's not unlikely that remittances inflow could reach $10 billion over the next three years," Bangladesh Bank's Deputy Governor Allah Malik Kazemi told Reuters,

Remittances rose by more than a quarter, to $4.36 billion, in July-March, the first nine months of the fiscal year, central bank officials said. [Read more]

SMS-based system 'rescues' OFWs

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 06:10pm (Mla time) 04/19/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- A system based on text or short messaging service (SMS) developed using open-source software has helped "rescue" some 200 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) located in different parts of the world.

The system was developed by the Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD), a local non-profit organization.

Through the system, OFWs abroad can send SMS or text messages to a local mobile number, which the system automatically transmits to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Overseas Workers Welfare Association and the Center for Migrant Advocacy. [Read More ]

Pakistan: Record $520.24m remitted in March

KARACHI, April 16: Overseas Pakistanis remitted a record amount of $520.24 million during March 2007 as against $423.56 million the same month last year, a rise of 22.8pc. The previous highest amount of remittance in a single month was recorded in May 2006 when $506.57 million were sent back home.During the first nine months of this fiscal the country received a total of $3,936.77 million in workers’ remittances as against $3,228.21 million in the corresponding period last year, an increase of 21.95pc.

The amount of $3,936.77 million includes $1.90 million received through encashment and profit earned on Foreign Exchange Bearer Certificates (FEBCs) and Foreign Currency Bearer Certificates (FCBCs). [Read More]

SWIFT Middle East community pioneers remittance solution

Published on 10 April 2007

Introducing a special interest session on SWIFT's solution for exchange houses and remittances at the SWIFT Regional Conference Middle East, Alex Bagin, relationship manager, Commercial Channels and Developing Markets, SWIFT, drew delegates' attention to the fact that the Middle East region is one of the main sources of global remittances.

Jose Antonio Garcia, Payments Systems Development Group, The World Bank, provided supporting evidence. The Gulf countries, he noted, are all represented in the top 20 remitting countries, with Saudi Arabia second in the world after the USA.

The impact of such remittances on the economies of receiving countries can be significant. Garcia noted that in certain countries, inbound remittances account for over 20% of GDP. He estimated that there is a 10-20% growth in remittances annually, though a large minority of the volume is unreported as it goes through unofficial channels. [Read More]

Remittances Push Philippine Peso To 6-Year High

April 17, 2007 8:59 p.m. EST

Geoffrey Ramos - All Headline News Staff Writer

Manila, Philippines (AHN) - The Philippine peso reached yet another six-year record Tuesday, closing at 47.71 to-the-dollar due to strong overseas remittances and fresh stock investments.

The 30-day Philippine Stock Exchange index also performed well, rising to 50.31 points or 1.5 percent at 3,318.17. On Monday, the index had climbed 1.6 percent.

The peso again broke a six-year record, ending at 47.71 to the dollar and gaining a fifth of a percent from 47.80 the previous day.

The government earlier on Monday said remittances from Filipino overseas workers climbed 25 percent to $1.1 billion in February, continuing a 10-month inflow performance above the $1 billion mark.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, after announcing a $44 billion-acquisition of U.S.-based healthcare billing firm Springfiled Service Corporation, led all gainers at 4.6 percent.

Newslink

Strong peso hurting OFW families, small businesses, new jobs

By Victor S. Barrios
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 03:24pm (Mla time) 04/16/2007

Philippine authorities have been trumpeting the country’s economic performance and the major role of OFW remittances. Policy makers cite the significant impact of remittances in fueling personal consumption expenditures, which constitute the major source of GDP growth. They take pride in the strengthening of the peso, brought about in great measure by surging remittances.

During a public forum recently held in San Francisco, high-level Philippine officials ventured the opinion that the strength of the peso could continue in the future. The authorities have knowingly withheld any policy intervention. Has the choice of the authorities to do nothing promoted the greatest good for the greatest number?

Ironically but deliberately, public policy has been hurting the families of OFWs and small exporters. In the end, such a posture will be self-defeating and will hurt the economy on a larger scale. When the “party” is over, there could be grave consequences in the opposite direction. Read more

Study proposes taxing OFW income

By Doris DumlaoInquirerLast updated 00:35am (Mla time) 04/11/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- The government should tax income remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and use the proceeds to shore up the productivity of workers left behind, a study by De La Salle University’s business and economics experts has proposed.
The research, titled “The Economic Impacts of International Migration: A Case Study on the Philippines,” written by Tereso Tullao, Michael Angelo Cortez and Edward See, said: “The possibility of increasing and internalizing the cost of international migration may be considered to reduce the economic ills it has generated. Such a move can arrest the possible hollowing effects on industries and mitigate the loss in international competition.” [Read more]

Bangladesh's Remittances Cross $4.0 Billion Mark In Nine Months

April 6, 2007 7:51 a.m. EST

Siddique Islam - All Headline News South Asia Correspondent

Dhaka, Bangladesh (AHN) - The flow of inward remittances crossed the $4.0 billion mark in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, increasing by 25.53 percent from that of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, officials said in the capital, Dhaka, on Thursday.

The remittance earnings in the period came as a continuation of last year's fiscal trends and record inflow of $4.8 billion. The growth in the 2005-06 period was 24.89 percent over the previous fiscal year.

However, the country's foreign exchange reserve stood at $4.23 billion on Thursday, thanks to robust growth in remittances from Bangladeshis working abroad.

According to provisional estimates from the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country's central bank, Bangladesh received a total of $4.36 billion during the July-March period of the 2006-07 fiscal year against $3.47 billion of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. [Read more]

Peso stronger from expected higher remittances

The peso yesterday appreciated against the dollar as banks unloaded greenback stocks ahead of the Lenten break when remittances from Filipino workers abroad are expected to pile up.

It closed at an intraday high of P48.05, climbing by P0.12 from Tuesday’s finish.

"The market squared their dollar positions in view of the long weekend. They sold dollars," a currency dealer said.

"Since it’s a long weekend, banks have been selling the dollar on expectations of strong flows," another trader said. [Read more]

Reduction of Foreign Currency Funding Costs

At present, when the Japanese government makes remittances for payments overseas, the Bank of Japan, which handles cash in the Exchequer, delivers the necessary cash in yen and has private financial institutions make the remittances in the foreign currency. The government needs to pay the cost equivalent to the currency conversion fees for these remittances.

From April this year, the Bank of Japan will raise US dollars, which make up the majority of foreign currency remittances, from the foreign exchange fund without currency conversion fees. The Bank of Japan will then deliver the necessary amount in U.S. dollars to private financial institutions and have them make the remittances in dollars. The government can save the cost equivalent to the currency conversion fees by this scheme. Ministry of Finance Japan

This scheme will be implemented from April 2007, beginning with large remittances of US$1 million or more. (The scheme will be applied to small remittances of less than US$1 million as soon as the necessary system has been created.)

India's current account deficit narrows, helped by higher software exports, remittances

India's current account deficit narrowed to US$3.04 billion (€2.28 billion) in the October-December quarter from US$4.78 billion in the same period a year ago, the central bank said Friday, thanks to increased exports of software services and remittances.

The current account deficit is the broadest measure of foreign trade and covers not only export and import of goods and services but also non-capital inflows such as remittances. The deficit represents the amount India must borrow or get as investment from foreigners to balance its commercial transactions with the rest of the world. [Read more]

Can Ghana Reverse her Brain Drain?

Many people migrate with the sole aim of accumulating wealth, knowledge and perhaps better life for their offspring which they normally would not be able to access in their countries of origin. Majority hold the long term view of returning home “one day”.

Thus, to some degree each migrant has different circumstances and motivation at time of migration. In West Africa, migration within and between countries is not a new phenomena, as people in the northern countries mainly migrate to the southern countries to work on the farms and in the mines. [Read more]

The Mexican Connection

Mass migration has left many towns in Mexico half-empty, but much wealthier. by Matthew Quirk

A mong the crumbling adobe shacks of rural Mexico, two-story California- style housing developments are rising. In the tiny city of Tlacolula, plots of land that sold for about $10,000 in 1994 now cost $60,000. Like the towns where they are going up, the new developments are partly empty. The home owners are among the many Mexican workers—nearly one in seven overall, and half the adult population of some communities, such as La Purísima and San Juan Mixtepec—who are in the United States. Typically working low-wage jobs, they send home much of their pay (41 percent on average, or $300 a month) to support families left behind and build a better life for their return. [Read more]