The Philippines’ balance of payments (BOP) posted a deficit of $2.6 billion in April 2025, exceeding the $639-million shortfall recorded in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Monday.
The BOP deficit reflected the national government’s (NG) drawdowns on its foreign currency deposits with the BSP to meet its external debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures and the BSP’s net foreign exchange operations.
It brought the four-month BOP level to a $5.5-billion deficit, higher than the $401-million deficit recorded from January to April 2024.
Preliminary data showed that the year-to-date BOP deficit reflected mainly the widening trade in goods deficit. It was partly muted by the continued net inflows from personal remittances from overseas Filipinos and foreign borrowings by the NG.
The BOP position mirrored the decrease in the final gross international reserves (GIR) to $105.3 billion as of end-April 2025 from $106.7 billion as of end-March 2025.
The latest GIR level provides a robust external liquidity buffer, equivalent to 7.3 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, the BSP said.
It can also cover about 3.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity.