The Philippines’ balance of payments (BOP) swung to a surplus of $62 million in July 2024 from a $53-million deficit in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Monday.
It said the BOP surplus in July was driven by inflows from the net income from the BSP’s investments abroad and the national government’s (NG) net foreign currency deposits with the BSP.
The BOP surplus in July brought the seven-month BOP level to a $1.5-billion surplus, lower than the $2.2-billion surplus recorded in the same period last year.
Based on preliminary data, 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 NG and net foreign portfolio investments.
The Philippine Statistics Authority reported a trade deficit of $25.0 billion in the first half of 2024, down from the $27.6-billion deficit incurred a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the gross international reserves (GIR) level increased to $106.7 billion as of end-July 2024 from $105.2 billion as of end-June 2024.
The BSP said 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.
It was also about 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.8 times based on residual maturity.
Ample GIR ensures the availability of foreign exchange to meet balance of payments financing needs, such as for payment of imports and debt service, in extreme conditions when there are no export earnings or foreign loans.
