Philippines' August remittances up 2.8 pct on yr

* Aug remittances up 2.8 pct from yr ago, slowest since April

* January to August inflows up 3.7 pct from a year ago

MANILA, Oct 15 - The Philippine central bank released data on Thursday on remittances from Filipinos overseas in August:

KEY DATA:

Remittance data Aug July June May April March

yr/yr change (pct) 2.8 9.3 3.3 3.7 2.2 3.1

in $ bln 1.37 1.49 1.5 1.48 1.44 1.47

KEY POINTS:

- Central bank governor Amando Tetangco said on Wednesday remittances should grow this year by 4 percent, higher than previous estimates, from last year's record $16.4 billion. [ID:nMNB002483]

- Remittances, a driver of consumer spending that fuels more than two-thirds of GDP, should offset the impact of recent typhoons and allow the Philippines to meet its growth target of 0.8-1.8 percent this year, officials said. [ID:MAN459546]

- The monthly total of remittances in August was the lowest since February.

- Annual growth in July remittances of 9.3 percent was the highest since November 2008 when inflows climbed 10.5 percent.

- A Reuters poll in September forecast remittances would rise 5.5 percent this year, a sharp reversal from a 0.5 percent contraction predicted in July, and a 5 percent fall forecast in May.

- The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for remittances to 4 percent growth, a reversal of an earlier estimate of a 4 percent contraction. [ID:nMAN168672]

LINKS:

- For details, central bank website...http://www.bsp.gov.ph

- Recent story on the Philippine economy... [ID:nMAN498266]

- Reuters' latest poll on remittances.......[ID:nMAN380202]