The Philippines is the most dependent nation on remittances from overseas workers due to lack of domestic fiscal capacity and local unemployment, Philippine think-tank IBON Foundation said on Thursday.

"The sheer scarcity of jobs is already a sign that all is not well and that the economy lacks an internal dynamism that is able to productively harness and employ the Filipino workforce," IBON research head Sonny Africa was quoted by ANC news network as saying.

Africa said at the foundation's year-end economic briefing that the Philippine economy stays afloat on external and volatile remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

"The declines in domestic investment imply a diminishing capacity to expand production and warn of a slowdown in the very near future," Africa said.

The Philippine Central Bank earlier said that remittances for the January-November period totaled 11.44 billion U.S. dollars. The figure was up 17.63 percent from a year earlier, topping 2005's record of 10.7 billion U.S. dollars.

The biggest slice of OFW remittances continued to come from the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Japan, Canada, Chinese Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Chinese Taipei.

Source: Xinhua