Remittances jump $3-M in 1Q

Remittances by foreign workers in the Northern Marianas jumped by almost $3 million in the first quarter of the year to $16.953 million from the previous year of the same period’s $14.011 million.

Records obtained from the Banking and Insurance Division of the commerce department indicated the growth in money transfer activities during the first three months of the year was spurred by the increase in the dollar remittances of Chinese workers.

Chinese workers in the CNMI, who are mostly concentrated in the apparel manufacturing industry, remitted $5.739 million during the January-March 2000 period, which improved by $2 million from the year-ago figure of only $3.022 million.

Officials attribute the increase in the dollar remittances of Chinese workers to the celebration of the Lunar New Year in early February which ushers in the Year of the Dragon, the time when money and business will be good.

The Year 2000 is the 4,697th Chinese year.
The biggest growth in remittances to the mainland China was recorded by Far East Financial Company which reached $2.773 million during the first three months of the year from only $986,231 in 1999.

According to the banking division of the commerce department, Chinese workers in the CNMI have remitted close to $20 million to the People’s Republic of China last year.

However, workers from the Philippines remain the largest market in the local money transfer industry with seven of the 10 licensed remittance companies in the CNMI exclusively catering to the Filipino community.

In the first quarter of 2000, the commerce department noted an increase in the dollar remittances of Filipino workers at $11.215 million from the previous year of the same period’s $10.989 million.

Peso devaluation

Officials said the continued depreciation of the Philippine peso against the United States dollar encouraged Filipino workers to send more of their hard-earned greenback home.
Mainly because of the Asian financial turmoil, the value of the American currency has escalated from only P28 per dollar in 1996 to more than P41 for every dollar today.

Pinoy Express cornered the largest market of foreign workers in the CNMI as it accounted for $3.730 million of the total remittances during the January-March 2000 period.

Philippine government-controlled PNB Corporation has grown to be the second biggest money transfer company in the CNMI in terms of the remittances volume, with Filipino workers coursing $3.054 million during the period under review.

All the other five remittance companies — Limco Corporation, Conor Express International, LBC Mabuhay, Micronesia International Jewelry and Rustan’s Foreign Exchange — accounted for $4.431 million in total remittances by Filipino workers to different places in the Philippines.

For the whole of 1999, remittances by nonresident workers in the CNMI reached more than $65 million which was higher by at least $7 million from the figures registered during the previous year.

Northern Marianas-based guest workers sent out more than $58 million in 1998, about $6 million higher than the 1997 tally of $52.4 million, showing an increasing trend despite sharp reduction in the number of foreign labor in the islands.

A report prepared by the Department of Commerce noted that remittance made by Filipino workers in the islands declined in 1999 compared with the previous year level of $49 million to $45.4 million.

In 1997, overseas contract Filipino workers remitted $48.3 million to the Philippines.
Government reports indicated that remittances to the Philippines have been on a steady upward trend since 1993, except in 1997 and in 1999 which registered a slight drop compared
with the year ago tally.

Filipinos remitted $37.8 million in 1993 which rose to $39 million the following year. The figure went up to $44.4 million in 1995 and to $48.6 million in 1996.