The Philippines’ international investment position narrowed by 2.5 percent to $50.83 billion as of end-December 2025 from $52.11 billion in the previous quarter, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Tuesday.
The net external liability position represents 10.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, an improvement from the 10.8 percent recorded in the prior period.
BSP officials said the change reflected faster growth in external assets compared to the increase in external liabilities.
Data from the BSP showed that the country’s investment in foreign assets rose 1.0 percent to $264.1 billion at the end of December. Meanwhile, foreign investments in Philippine assets saw a modest increase of 0.4 percent to $314.9 billion.
The BSP said the faster growth in the stock of external financial assets was driven by increases across major components. These included reserve assets and equity capital investments in foreign affiliates, which grew 1.6 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
“Residents’ outward investments also expanded, reflecting sustained cross‑border financial activity amid broadly stable PH‑US interest rate differentials,” the BSP said.
The slight uptick in external financial liabilities resulted from higher nonresidents’ investments in debt instruments and increased outstanding foreign loans as the government and other sectors took on additional borrowings.
Nonresidents’ investments jumped 1.5 percent to $75.3 billion and outstanding foreign loans grew 1.3 percent to $81.6 billion.
The BSP uses the international investment position as a key indicator of external vulnerability and resilience by measuring what the country owns and owes relative to the rest of the world.
