Philippines: The remittance lifeline
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2025
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The estimated 2.3 million Filipino overseas workers form the economic backbone of their nation. The remittances they send home are vital; sustaining household incomes, driving consumer spending, supporting community development, and ensuring national economic stability - contributing 8.5% to GDP.
In the first of our two-part series looking at the Philippine economy, Sam Fenwick meets overseas workers who send money home and those who have returned to set up businesses.
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Producer/presenter: Sam Fenwick
(Picture: Angel Kho, a head chef, in the kitchen of a care home in the UK. Credit: BBC)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:06.8 | I'm Sam Fennick. |
| 0:08.1 | Coming up on today's program. |
| 0:10.1 | For Filipinos going abroad is mostly about wanting to have a greater capacity to help their families back home. |
| 0:19.6 | They're a source of national pride in the Philippines |
| 0:22.5 | often hailed as modern-day heroes. |
| 0:25.5 | My eldest son, he was five years old when I went to Saudi Arabia. |
| 0:31.1 | Although my kids grew up without me, |
| 0:35.0 | I can say that's the best decision in my life. |
| 0:39.3 | About 10% of the Filipino workforce is employed overseas, and the money they sent home significantly boosts the economy. |
| 0:47.2 | As they get more remittances, what we see is that they spend more and more in education and nutrition. |
| 0:52.4 | That also helps create more opportunities |
| 0:55.1 | in the future. In the first of our two-part series on the Philippines economy, we explore |
| 1:00.4 | how remittances can drive economic growth. So this is the kitchen. So you're preparing three meals a day for 77 people? |
| 1:13.9 | Yes. |
| 1:14.5 | Meet Angel Co. She's head chef at Cherry Blossom Care Home for the elderly in Basingstoke, |
| 1:20.4 | a town in the southeast of England. |
| 1:23.1 | Chen, I chop up some carrots. |
| 1:24.8 | You can use this for your side vegetable. |
| 1:27.8 | Angel arrived in the UK in 2016. and I chop up some carrots. You can use this for your side vegetable. Yes, you. |
| 1:29.7 | Angel arrived in the UK in 2012. |
| 1:32.7 | She was 16 years old. |
... |
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