OFWs in Qatar Have No Savings

Filipino OFWs in Qatar may be receiving better salaries than in the Philippines, but a large number of them have no cash savings at all, reports Infoqat.com. Charmaine Pamela Bautista, information officer of the Housing and Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG), estimates that 90 percent of average- and low-income OFW-earners in Qatar spend the bulk of their hard-earned money on food and education of their children back home. Only a small portion of their salary is left for them to spend, with a mere 20 percent allotted for their meals and transportation costs. Of the estimated 200,000 OFWs in Qatar, about 45,000 are housemaids and 70 percent are average- and low-income earners.