In terms of remittances received from OFWs, the number amounted to a historical USD 17.3 billion, an unexpected 5.6 percent increase compared with 2008, and which accounted for 10.8 percent of the country’s GDP (ibid.). This proportion is impressively high compared with the 1.9 percent of GDP for all developing countries, and 5.4 percent of GDP for the group of low-income countries in 2009 (the World Bank, 2010).