20-6-2023 (MANILA) The Philippines’ overall balance of payments (BOP) recorded a deficit of $439 million in May, a significant decrease compared to the $1.6 billion deficit reported in the same period last year, according to data released by the Philippine central bank on Monday night.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) stated that the BOP deficit in May was primarily driven by outflows resulting from the national government’s net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle foreign currency debt obligations.
Despite the deficit in May, the cumulative BOP position of the Southeast Asian country showed a surplus of $2.9 billion in the first five months of the year, as reported by the BSP.
“This marks a turnaround from the $1.5 billion deficit recorded during the same period last year,” the BSP noted.
Preliminary data from the BSP attributed the cumulative BOP surplus to net inflows from personal remittances, the national government’s net foreign borrowings, trade and services, and foreign direct investments.
The BSP reported that the gross international reserves (GIR) level stood at $100.6 billion as of the end of May, providing a robust external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.4 months’ worth of imports of goods, payments of services, and primary income.
According to the BSP, the GIR level is about 5.8 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.1 times based on residual maturity.
