It is lower compared to 2018 due to lingering global uncertainty which dampened investor sentiment. Second, overseas Filipino remittances as well as BPO earnings are sustained. Cash remittances reached $ billion in 2019 an increase of 4.1 percent year-on-year. On the other hand, BPO revenues were recorded at $ billion for the first three quarters of 2019.
We continue to have the same concerns that we expressed in our June Financial System Review about household indebtedness and housing, particularly in the Greater Vancouver and Toronto markets. The circumstances that the Canadian economy is facing make the Bank’s risk-management approach to monetary policy particularly valuable, because the types of uncertainties we see cannot readily be incorporated into projections.