Manila: Remittances by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are expected to reach $21.3 billion (Dh78.2 billion) by the end of this year, a figure that represents 6.5 per cent of the $325 billion expected to be sent home by overseas workers worldwide, the World Bank said.

The Philippine Central Bank said that remittances by OFWs had totalled $19.77 billion in 2009. Remittances had reached $12.18 billion as of August this year, the bank added.

The Philippines is the world’s fourth largest beneficiary of overseas remittances, the World Bank’s Outlook for Migration and Remittance Flows Factbook 2011 said.

The same source said that, by this year’s end, India is expected to receive $55 billion from its overseas workers, China $51 billion, Mexico $ 22.6 billion, France $15.9 billion, Germany $11.6 billion, Bangladesh $ 11.1 billion, Belgium $10.4 billion, Spain $10.2 billion and Nigeria $10 billion.

Other countries receiving substantial overseas remittances include Russia, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and Turkey, the World Bank said, adding that following a decline of recorded remittances in 2009, money inflows from overseas workers were expected to rise by 6 per cent globally to $325 billion in 2010, by 6.2 per cent to $345.15 billion by 2011, and by 8.1 per cent to $374 billion by 2012.

Citing several adverse factors that could affect the global earning power of overseas workers, the World Bank also cautioned about the effects of fragile economic recovery worldwide, volatile currency and commodity price movements, and rising anti-immigration sentiment in many countries that host overseas workers. “A high level of unemployment in the migrant-receiving countries has prompted restrictions on new immigration,” the bank explained.

The number of overseas workers is also likely to increase. The World Bank said Mexico has 11.9 million overseas workers, India 11.4 million and the Philippines 4.3 million. However, sources in the Philippines sought to differ with the World Bank’s figures, saying there are now nine million OFWs, representing 10 per cent of their country’s population of 94 million.

The main host countries for OFWs are the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UAE, United Kingdom, Italy, and other Asian countries, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said.