MANILA (XINHUA) – The Philippines’ overall balance of payments (BOP) posted a surplus of USD62 million last month, a reversal from the BOP deficit of USD53 million recorded in July 2023, the country’s central bank said yesterday.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the BOP surplus in July reflected inflows mainly from the net income from the BSP investments abroad and the national government’s net foreign currency deposits with the BSP. The BOP surplus in July brought the year-to-date BOP level to a surplus of USD1.5 billion, lower than the surplus of USD2.2 billion recorded in the same period of 2023.
Based on preliminary data, the BSP said in a press release that the cumulative BOP surplus reflected mainly the narrowing trade in goods deficit alongside the continued net inflows from personal remittances, net foreign direct investment, trade in services, net foreign borrowings by the national government, and net foreign portfolio investments.
The central bank said the BOP position also reflected an increase in the final gross international reserves (GIR) level to USD106.7 billion as of end-July 2024 from USD105.2 billion as of end-June 2024.
It added that the latest GIR level represented a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.9 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
Moreover, it is about 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.8 times based on residual maturity.
