THE Bangko Sentral was able to trim its net losses in the first eight months of the year, as gains in both interest and miscellaneous income continued to catch up and covered more of its expenses during the period.
In the most recent data on the central bank’s statement of income and expense, the agency showed that it was able to keep its net losses to P1.78 billion. This is about 61 percent lower than the P4.54-billion losses that it sustained in the same eight-month period last year.
While this is an improvement, the central bank was still unable to keep its statement in the black, as expenses were larger than its income in the first eight months of the year.
If the central bank ends 2015 with a net loss, it would be the sixth consecutive year for it to register a loss.
It was in 2012 when the central bank incurred a record-high net loss of P95.38 billion. The last time that the BSP posted a net income was in 2009, amounting to P13.13 billion.
The total revenues for the period grew 23.6 percent, a significant reversal of the 27.7-percent decrease seen in the same period last year.
In particular, the total revenues for the eight-month period hit P39.01 billion, up from the P31.56 billion in 2014.
This is the result of the bank’s increased income from interest—P24.67 billion in the first eight months of the year from the P21.25 billion during the same period last year.
The BSP was also able to collect about P14.34 billion from other sources of income, also up from the P10.31 billion seen in the previous year.
However, the central bank was still not able to garner enough income to cover for its also expanding expenses during the period.
In particular, the BSP reported that its expenses grew by 7.3 percent in August this year, from P44.26 billion in 2014 to P47.52 billion in 2015.
The increase in its expenses largely emanated from the interest payments—hitting P32.55 billion from the P29.72 billion in the previous year. Other expenses remained relatively stable at P14.97 billion from the P14.54 billion last year.
The BSP pays interest to the depositors who put money in their special deposits account (SDA) facility. The BSP has made significant measures in 2014 to siphon liquidity back to its vaults.
In particular, the Monetary Board increased the SDA rate from 2 percent to 2.25 percent in June last year. This was followed by another 25-basis-point hike in September last year to hit its current level at 2.5 percent.
Money parked in the BSP’s facility is at P935 billion as of mid-September this year.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes