Foreign exchanges warned over rates

Foreign exchanges warned over rates
Last Updated : Wednesday 05 Dec, 2007 –
Posted in 7days

The UAE central bank has warned foreign exchange outlets against ignoring the official exchange rate after some raised dirham prices in anticipation of a revaluation. The bank yesterday said it would reimburse customers who had been overcharged, using funds placed with it by the foreign exchange companies themselves.

It had “noticed that some money changers took advantage of the rumours promoted by some speculators and raised the exchange rate of the dirham against the US dollar”, it said in a statement, adding it would “enforce more severe penalties in case of similar violation in the future.” Hotels and money changers in the UAE changed dollars into dirhams at as much as 17 per cent below the official rate in anticipation of a revaluation, an action the bank described as harmful to the country's tourism industry.

Gulf rulers are meeting in Doha amid frenzied speculation that some may drop their pegs to the declining dollar or allow currencies to appreciate. On the first day of the summit, however, the UAE foreign minister told reporters there would be no decision on the dollar peg at the ongoing meeting.

“There is no intention to take a decision at this summit regarding de-pegging the Gulf currencies to the dollar,” WAM reported Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan as saying.

Gulf currencies weakened yesterday after Saudi finance minister Ibrahim al-Assaf ruled out dropping his country's peg. Bids on the UAE dirham eased to as low as 3.6715 per dollar after hiting a 17-year high of 3.6561 per dollar last Friday.

OFW remittances seen doubling in three years

OFW remittances seen doubling in three years
Agence France Presse
Posted in http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=98114

Money sent home to the Philippines by millions of Filipinos working abroad, already 10 percent of GDP, is expected to almost double to 21.4 billion dollars a year by 2010, officials forecast.

Alex Aguilar spokesman for the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said 2006 cash transfers rose to a record 12.8 billion dollars, as the government forecast an annual increase of about 10 percent.

However, officials say this figure could go much higher and Aguilar expects the rate of overseas remittances to increase by 15 to 20 percent annually to about 21.4 billion dollars by 2010 from 10.7 billion dollars in 2005.

He said the composition of workers leaving for overseas is shifting to professionals and other skilled higher-paid sectors, compared to maids and construction workers who dominated workers abroad 20 or 30 years ago.

Worker deployment actually dropped by 3.7 percent in the eight months to August, but the tilt to highly skilled workers allowed remittances to rise 15.3 percent to 9.3 billion dollars, he told reporters Sunday.

"Those who are saying the Philippines should stop relying on remittances are being ridiculous. The growth of remittances is definitely sustainable over the next several years," he added.