Restoring the Financial Bridge to the Philippines Smarter

When a pandemic hits in modern times, the impact of it doesn’t play out as people expect. We’re given stories about how viruses or bacteria spread, many are affected, but then valiantly a cure arrives and the world as we know it is saved. It’s the stuff movies are made of. However, in reality, pandemics don’t play out so cleanly following the rules and plots of scripts. Instead, things happen haphazardly, in illogical ways, and they produce unexpected situations.

People Forced to Return Home Blocked Economies

The COVID pandemic triggered a massive economic impact on what was the normal approach and practice of people working overseas and sending funds back to the Philippines for family and friends. This practice, a common one that leverages the differences between currency values of one country to the other, was disrupted by the response to the pandemic. But it wasn’t in an expected manner.

As things shut down worldwide due to social distancing, thousands upon thousands of people were suddenly unable to work. Again, the primary reason they traveled in the first place was to gain work and income that could be sent home. That connection was broken by stores and restaurants and businesses closing their doors. Many of their staff and workers were no longer needed, causing Filipinos from all over to have to return to the Philippines instead. Suddenly, in a matter of a year, the income flow and economic support that was being provided overseas was shut off, and people who provided it were now adding to the cost back home. It was a vivid wake-up call about how a pandemic affects far more than just health.

The Way People Send Money Home Changed

Today, the Philippines, along with everywhere else in the world, is recovering. Again, people are traveling and working abroad to generate income and support their families at home. And that means there is a solid, regular need for transferring funds again in a reliable manner.

The matter wasn’t personal when COVID was felt. The Philippine government had the matter square on its radar for many months. The loss of money transfers back to the islands amounted to more than a 9 percent drop in the country’s economy from a gross domestic product perspective. So, finding a way to restore that influx of financial support was a priority to re-establish again as soon as possible.

A key problem that compounded the money transfer problem to the Philippines also included clampdowns on borders and movement controls. Once people were working again, trust in traditional systems was no longer in place. Instead, workers overseas have started experimenting with other tools, specifically digital money transfers instead. Banks and physical branch offices made the mistake of making themselves too inaccessible during the pandemic, and Filipinos didn’t forget. Now, that perspective is being applied in real-time practice. And digital money transfer activity has skyrocketed as a result.

Digital Tools Become the Standard

To send money to the Philippines today is as easy as using a mobile device or computer, and Filipinos abroad are doing exactly that. Before the pandemic, direct cash made up two-thirds of money transfers back home. Today, that amount has almost been replaced with electronic transfers now, and digital tools are making up most of that work. So, considering what the behavior trend is focusing on, it only makes sense to use safe tools whenever possible.

Ria Money Transfer services and trusted transfer providers like it are key in protecting the new digital approach of Filipinos working abroad again. Ria provides workers and family members with the confidence to transfer in peace without concern that the funds will be lost, won’t be exchanged, or won’t arrive on time. All of these things are taken care of competently and can be done with the Philippines as well as over 100 other countries as well. So send money to the Philippines with confidence; just do it right with a trusted transfer provider online like Ria.