The value of foreign exchange flowing into the country by the migrant workers did not include cash they brought themselves into the country, and remittances via non bank services.
Surabaya, East Java (ANTARA News) - Remittances via banks by Indonesian migrant workers abroad rose in 2013 from the previous year.

The remittances in foreign exchanges were valued at Rp88.6 trillion in local currency in 2013 when a US dollar was worth Rp12,000, up from Rp67.87 trillion in 2012 when a US dollar was around Rp9,670.

The value of foreign exchange flowing into the country by the migrant workers did not include cash they brought themselves into the country, and remittances via non bank services, head of the National Body for Workers Protection and Employment (BNP2TKI) M Jumhur Hidayat said here on Monday.

Jumhur said there are 6 million Indonesian workers contributing to the foreign exchange inflows to the country.

Altogether the remittances by the migrant workers reached around Rp120 trillion a year, he said.

He said in a bid to increase remittance , the BNP2TKI has sought to improve the quality and the number of Indonesian workers abroad.

The agency provides education for the workers abroad in handling their finance and in entrepreneurship, he said.

The education is needed when they return home to manage their finance and start small business that they no longer need to go back abroad, he said.

"This year we hope to increase the number of Indonesian migrant to receive education to 32,000," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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