The country’s balance of payments position posted a surplus of $163 million in October, a reversal from the $458-million deficit recorded in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Tuesday.
“Inflows in October 2019 reflected the increase in the national government’s net foreign currency deposits and BSP’s income from its investments abroad. These inflows were offset, however, by outflows representing payments made by the NG on its foreign exchange obligations during the month in review,” the BSP said in a statement.
The BOP position from January to October this year stood at a surplus of $5.73 billion, a turnaround from the $5.59-billion deficit recorded in the first 10 months of 2018.
“The surplus may be attributed partly to personal remittance inflows from overseas Filipinos and net inflows of foreign direct investments,” it said.
“The BOP position reflects the final gross international reserves level of $85.83 billion as of end-October 2019. At this level, the GIR represents a more-than-ample liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income,” the bank said.