Cash sent home by Filipinos working abroad rose a stronger-than-expected 5.6 per cent to $US17.3 billion ($A19.5 billion) last year as jobs remained plentiful despite the global crisis, the central bank says.Filipinos are the biggest source of merchant marine workers in the world, while many also work as nurses, doctors, teachers, construction workers and entertainers.
It also cited government efforts to find more job openings for Filipinos abroad and the increasing number of ways the workers could remit money back home.
Countries in the Middle East that were not so badly hit by the crisis, Saudi Arabia in particular, were also able to absorb many of the Filipinos who lost their jobs elsewhere around the globe, the bank said.
However the United States remained the biggest source of remittances in 2009, followed by Canada, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Japan and Singapore. Full Story
