The Philippines’ balance of payments (BOP) recorded a $226-million surplus in June 2025, a turnaround from the $155-billion deficit in June last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.
The surplus indicates that the country’s total cash inflows exceeded outflows in global transactions in June. The BSP attributed this to the national government’s foreign currency deposits with the BSP and income from BSP investments.
The June BOP surplus helped narrow the six-month deficit to $5.6 billion from $5.8 billion in a year ago. Preliminary BSP data showed the year-to-date BOP deficit was largely due to the continued trade-in-goods deficit.
Based on preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS), the trade deficit for January to May 2025 stood at $19.7 billion, a decrease from the $20.7-billion deficit posted a year earlier.
The sustained net inflows from personal remittances from overseas Filipinos, foreign borrowings by the national government and foreign portfolio investments supported the BOP surplus in June.
The BOP position also mirrored an increase in gross international reserves (GIR) to $106.0 billion by end-June 2025 from $105.2 billion as of end-May 2025.
The latest GIR level provides a robust external liquidity buffer, equivalent to 7.2 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It also covers about 3.4 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity.
It ensures 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, according to the BSP.
GIR consists of foreign-denominated securities, foreign exchange and other assets including gold.
