3. In-house
programs
Outreach
activities and
events
Financial
learning for
school children
Financial Learning
Campaign (FLC) for OFs
and beneficiaries
Financial Learning Campaign for Overseas Filipinos (OFs)
and Their Beneficiaries
OF families who save increased
significantly
Savings
OF families who invest also increased
significantly
Investments
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Q1 2007 Q2 2015
49.7%
7.2%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
Q1 2007 Q2 2015
2.3%
6.7%
4. EFLP Geographical Reach
EFLP, including the FLC, has now
reached 80 out of 81 or 98.8
percent of the country’s provinces
through more than 6,000 learning
events, educating and positively
affecting the lives of over 670,000
participants
visited provinces
unvisited provinces
5. Conducted a total of 15 FLCs in 13
cities overseas where there are large
concentration of OFs
Good afternoon everyone. On behalf of the BSP, I would like to thank IFAD, the World Bank, and the European Commission foro-organizng this forum, and for handing this award. Special thanks also to the Commission of Fiipinos overseas for nominating the BSP program.
Before I proceed with my very short presentation on the BSP’s Economic and Financial Learning Program (EFLP), allow me first to give you some statistics on remittances, the Philippine case.
For the last 5 years, personal remittances from overseas Filipinos grew by an average of 7.2 percent per year. In 2014, personal remittances amounted to US$27 billion, equivalent to 9.5 percent of GDP. And for the first 4 months of 2015 (January-April), personal remittances already reached US$8.6 billion.
The EFLP brings together under one flagship program the BSP’s key learning activities, particularly those pertaining to economic information and financial education, and which are targeted to the general public, sectoral representatives and specialized stakeholders. Formally launched in 2010, the EFLP embodies the BSP’s thrust to promote greater awareness and understanding of essential economic and financial issues to help the public acquire the knowledge and develop the skills needed to make well-informed economic and financial decisions, including saving and investing. Prior to the launching of the EFLP in 2010, the BSP, together with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), has been conducting Financial Learning Campaigns (FLCs) for overseas Filipinos (OFs) and their beneficiaries in key cities and regions in the Philippines since 2006, and in key cities overseas (Milan included) since 2008.
Our vision for the EFLP is to have a knowledgeable citizenry that is able to contribute more meaningfully to economic development and benefit better from the opportunities that it brings. For this to happen, people have to understand how certain economic and financial policies relate to their daily lives and how these can affect their future.
The EFLP covers in-house programs, outreach information dissemination activities and events, as well as other economic and financial learning programs.
A major component activity under the EFLP is the Financial Learning Campaign (FLC) for Overseas Filipinos (OFs) and their beneficiaries which is. By highlighting the importance of using remittances to build savings and directing these to productive investments in financial instruments and business ventures, the FLC reinforces the positive and beneficial effects of remittances for the socio-economic wellbeing of the overseas Filipinos and their families. Topics discussed during the roadshows include: (a) the importance of remittances; (b) financial planning; (c) rewards and risks associated with various financial instruments; and, (d) ways to protect remittances and savings.
The positive impact of FLC is validated by the results of BSP’s quarterly Consumer Expectation Survey (CES). Results show that the percentage of OF and their families who save has increased significantly to 49.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015 compared with only 7.2 percent in the firs quarter of 2007. Moreover, 6.7 percent of OF families now invest in businesses and stocks as opposed to 2.3 percent eight years back. The BSP’s objective is to further increase these percentages, particularly that of investment, and narrow the gap between saving and investment.
The implementation of various component learning programs under the EFLP, including the FLC-OF, has now reached 80 out of 81 or 98.8 percent of the country’s provinces through more than 6,000 learning events, educating and positively affecting the lives of over 670,000 participants.
A number of sessions, particularly the FLC program, has also been conducted in countries with large concentration of overseas Filipinos such as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Brunei. These international campaigns were attended by over 2,000 participants.