BSP says remittances grew 3.1% to nearly $13b in first five months

By Julito G. Rada

REMITTANCES rose for the 28th straight month, supporting the growth of household spending and the general economy amid the elevated inflation, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show.

The BSP said Monday cash remittances rose 2.8 percent in May to $2.49 billion from $2.43 billion in the same month last year, driven by the growth in receipts from land- and sea-based workers.

Money from Filipinos working overseas have been growing year-on-year since January 2021 when it slightly dropped 1.7 percent.

Cash remittances in the first five months of 2023 reached $12.98 billion, or 3.1 percent higher than $12.59 billion

Australian battery firm investing $10m in New Clark City

By Jenniffer B. Austria

AUSTRALIAN electic vehicle manufacturer StBattalion is investing $10 million to establish a lithium-ion battery pack manufacturing facility at Filinvest Innovation Park in New Clark City in Tarlac province.

StBattalion on Monday signed a five-year contract with Filinvest Land’s wholly-owned subsidiary FCGC for the lease of two ready built factory units with a total of 5,000 square meters of space to produce more battery packs that can store more than 1 million gigawatthour of electricity annually.

StBattalion founder and director Trevor St Baker said the plant would produce lithium-ion phosphate battery packs catering to residential and commercial scale battery energy storage systems for electric vehicle charging station power control and back-up.

It will target markets in the Philippines and other ASEAN countries, Australia, the United States and India.

“StB Giga Factory is positioned to capture the once in century transition towards a renewable energy electricity system, in which lithium-ion batteries are expected to play a pivotal role,” St Baker said.

“Our battery products will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve fuel independence, improve electricity reliability, decrease the grid reliance for EV charging at peak system demand times, and with major electricity cost savings for households and businesses, and transport users generally,” he said.

St Baker said the factory would start commercial operation by the first quarter of 2024 with an initial output of 150 megawatt per hour, rising to full first-stage production capacity of 1.2 gigawatt-hours by 2030.

He said while the factory is being constructed, the company is already considering the possibility of further expanding the facility.

Pse Index Closing

$2.70 billion a year earlier.

“The increase in personal remittances in May 2023 was due to higher remittances sent by land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more, and sea- and land-based workers with work contracts of less than one year,” the BSP said.

in the world after those going to India, China and Mexico.

The Philippines is among the biggest suppliers of nurses around the world, accounting for at least 20 percent of the total. It is also the main supplier of seafarers worldwide, accounting for about 20 percent to 25 percent of the global tally.

a year ago.

“The growth in cash remittances from the United States, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia contributed mainly to the increase in remittances in the first five months of 2023,” the BSP said in a statement.

The US posted the highest share of overall remittances during the period, followed by Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, amounted to $2.78 billion in May, also up 2.9 percent from

Personal remittances in the first five months went up by 3.1 percent to $14.46 billion from $14.02 billion a year ago. Cash remittances rose 3.6 percent to a record $32.54 billion in 2022 from $31.42 billion in 2021 on sustained demand for skilled Filipino workers overseas. The full-year remittances growth missed the official target of 4 percent set by the BSP.

Studies showed that remittances to the Philippines were the fourth largest

The deployment of OFWs has become more diversified over the years to include more countries.

The BSP expects remittances to grow by 3 percent in 2023.

Remittances support the country’s balance of payments and play a significant role in the stability of the foreign exchange rate.

It also drives the expansion of various sectors such as banking, real estate, transportation, retail and services in the Philippines.

DTI underscores need to industrialize economy

TRADE Secretary Alfredo Pascual underscored the need for local businesses to industrialize to complete globally.

“Competition does not happen in a limited space, it has to be global. I think we have a chance of industrializing through technologybased industries instead of other fields where neighbors have a bigger head start,” Pascual said during a Makati Business Club forum.

Pascual said the growing interest from foreign investors was partially due to economic reforms passed in the first year of the Marcos administration and towards the end of the Duterte administration.

He said the reforms provided “an initial foundation for building on what we want.”

“In my case, what I want is to pursue industrialization for the country,” he said.

Pascual has led 14 trips so far to promote the country as an investment destination.

Othel V. Campos

11.8 million credit cards issued as of March 2023 in the country. Smart was also awarded Ookla’s Speedtest Award for the Best Mobile Network in the Philippines for the rst and second quarters of 2023.

BANKS and other financial companies have issued about 11.8 million credit cards in the country as of the first quarter of 2023, a group said Monday.

The Credit Cards Association of the Philippines said of the total, 65 percent of users are considered as “transactors” who pay their total outstanding balance in full every month, while only 35 percent are “revolvers” or those who pay only the minimum amount or less than the full outstanding balance.