MANILA - Money sent home by Filipinos working overseas can grow more than 3% this year, higher than earlier estimates, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Amando Tetangco said on Tuesday.

A key driver of consumer spending, the country's remittance inflows would grow higher than the central bank's previous forecast of 2-3%, according to Tetangco.

In July, remittances rose by a stronger-than-expected 9.3%, their highest year-on-year growth over the past 8 months as the economy started to show signs of recovery from the global crisis.

The BSP had expected remittances to remain flat at $16.4 billion this year as foreign employers looked to shed jobs to cut expenses. - abs-cbnNEWS.com, with a report from Reuters