The Philippines’ balance of payments (BOP) posted a surplus of $3.7 billion in in the third quarter of 2024. a turnaround from a deficit of $524 million in the same period last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.
“The significant increase in net inflows in the financial account led to a reversal to BOP surplus, notwithstanding a wider deficit in the current account,” the BSP said in a statement.
It said that from January to September, the BOP position also posted a surplus of $5.1 billion, higher than the $1.7-billion surplus logged a year ago.
The BSP said the surplus reflected mainly the significantly higher net inflows from the financial account.
The current account deficit in the third quarter reached $5.7 billion, equivalent to -5.2 percent of the gross domestic product, higher by 154.4 percent than the $2.2 billion deficit or -2.2 percent of GDP a year earlier.
“This turnout was driven by the wider trade in goods gap and lower net receipts in trade in services and primary income accounts. This was partly muted by the higher net receipts in the secondary income account,” the BSP said.
The current account deficit widened by 19.3 percent to reach $12.9 billion, equivalent to -3.9 percent of the GDP in the first three quarters of 2024 from the $10.8-billion deficit or -3.5 percent of the GDP in the same period in 2023.
“The higher current account deficit emanated from the lower net receipts in trade in services. However, this was offset partly by the narrowing goods trade deficit and higher net receipts in the primary and secondary income accounts,” the BSP said.
The capital account recorded net receipts of $20 million in the third quarter, up by 19.4 percent year-on-year from $16 million in the third quarter of 2023. This came on the back of higher receipts from gross disposals of non-produced nonfinancial assets at $3 million from $0.4 million.
The capital account also recorded net receipts amounting to $54 million from January to September 2024, or 15.6 percent higher than the $46 million net receipts recorded a year ago.
Meanwhile, the gross international reserves (GIR) amounted to $112.7 billion as of end-September 2024, up from $98.1 billion a year earlier.
The peso averaged at 57.25 against the US dollar in the third quarter, appreciating by 1 percent from an average ofP57.80 a dollar in the second quarter.
The BSP said the peso depreciated year-on-year by 2.3 percent from an average of 55.96 against the greenback in the third quarter of 2023.
The peso averaged at 57 per dollar in the first nine months, depreciating by 2.7 percent from an average of 55.49 a dollar a year ago.
