MANILA, Philippines — More dollars flowed into the domestic economy in November, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Thursday.
In a statement, the BSP said the Philippines’ overall balance of payments position posted a surplus of $541 million in November, higher than the $163 million surplus in October but lower than $847 million posted in the same month last year.
The November outturn was the highest in six months, central bank data showed.
The BSP attributed last month’s surplus to inflows from the central bank’s foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad, as well as to increase in the government’s net foreign currency deposits. These inflows, however, were offset by outflows representing payments made by the state on its foreign exchange obligations.
The BOP is a summary of the economic transactions of a country with the rest of the world for a specific period.
A surplus arises when more funds entered the country against those that left. The raised funds go to the nation’s international reserves, which the BSP manages as the lender of last resort.
Meanwhile, a deficit is incurred when outflows exceed inflows. When inflows and outflows are equally matched, the BOP position is in balance.
Year-to-date, the Philippines’ BOP position posted a surplus of $6.27 billion, a turnaround from the $4.75 billion deficit recorded in the first eleven months of 2018.
“The surplus may be attributed partly to lower trade in goods account deficit, higher net receipts in the trade in services account and personal remittance inflows from overseas Filipinos, and net inflows of foreign direct investments and foreign portfolio investments,” the BSP said.
In the same statement, the BSP said the Philippines’ final gross international reserves level stood at $86.23 billion as of end-November 2019, providing “a more-than-ample” buffer that could cover 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral