The vast army of Philippine overseas workers sent 1.3 billion dollars home in March, a rise of some 26.4 percent over the same period last year, the central bank said Tuesday. It was the 11th consecutive month that remittances surpassed the billion-dollar mark. The bank said remittances for the first quarter of the year totaled 3.5 billion dollars up 24 percent on the same period last year...This influx of remittances is helping the local currency, the Philippine peso, to strengthen. So too the relatively peaceful elections recently held (at least by Philippine standards). It seems the US dollar is taking a beating against every Southeast Asian currency nowadays--talk about a reverse Asian financial crisis:The central bank projects this year's dollar remittances sent through formal channels such as banks could reach 14 billion dollars. Some eight million Filipinos, about 10 percent of the population, now live and work in over 100 countries.
The peso Tuesday broke into the level of 46 to the dollar for the first time in six years as financial markets cheered the peaceful conduct of Monday’s midterm national elections, traders said.Why is it that the recent Philippine election was relatively peaceful, you ask? "Only" 126 have died from election-related violence so far in 2007 as compared to 189 in 2004:Stocks surged to a fresh 10-year high, catching up with similar rallies in the region, with the key Philippine Stock Exchange index gaining 1.3 percent to 3,408.73, the highest since it reached a pre-Asian crisis level of 3,447.6 points on Feb. 3, 1997.
Currency traders said the seasonal influx of cash remittances from overseas Filipinos ahead of next month’s school opening also provided a strong boost to the peso, which reached an intra-day high of 46.95 to the dollar in morning trade before closing at 47.06 to the greenback.
The Philippines is bracing itself for more violence as the country’s poll inspectors begin a lengthy manual vote count in over a thousand canvassing centres throughout the archipelago.The mid-term congressional elections, which were also held to pick local officials, have been marred by allegations of fraud and violence, which had seen 126 people killed since the campaign season started in January...
Still, [Police Chief] Calderon declared Tuesday’s counting as ”relatively peaceful” because of the lower number of casualties compared with past elections. Violence during the 2004 elections claimed 189 lives.
