The Philippines again posted a Balance of Payments (BOP) surplus after six consecutive months of posting deficits this year, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Data showed the country’s overall BOP surplus reached $711 million in October 2022. This is only the second time BOP was in surplus after March 2022 when the surplus reached $754 million.
However, BSP said, the BOP surplus in October was lower than the $1.1 billon posted in October 2021.
“The BOP surplus in October 2022 reflected inflows arising mainly from the National Government’s (NG) net foreign currency deposits with the BSP,” the central bank said in a news statement.
The BOP surplus for the month reduced the cumulative BOP deficit in January-October 2022 to $7.1 billion from a deficit of $7.8 billion in the first three quarters of the year.
“The said net deposits include proceeds from the issuance of ROP Global Bonds amounting to $2 billion for the NG’s general financing and operational requirements,” BSP said.
Meanwhile, the current year-to-date BOP level, which is a reversal from the $476 million surplus recorded in the same period a year ago, reflected the widening trade in goods deficit.
BSP said goods imports continued to surpass goods exports on the back of the surge in international commodity prices and the resumption of domestic economic activities.
“Based on preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s [PSA] International Merchandise Trade Statistics [IMTS], the trade deficit for January-September 2022 reached $46.7 billion, up from the $28.6 billion deficit posted in the same period last year,” BSP said.
Meanwhile, the gross international reserves (GIR) level increased to $94 billion as of end-October 2022 from $93 billion as of end-September 2022.
“The latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income,” BSP said.
BSP also said this is about 6.9 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.1 times based on residual maturity.