Overall BOP position posts $368 million deficit in October

November 20, 2017

The overall balance of payments (BOP) position in October posted a deficit of $368 million, higher by $185 million than the $183 million deficit during the same period last year, the central bank said Monday.

This brought the cumulative BOP position from January to October to a deficit of $1.735 billion, a reversal from the $1.465 billion surplus in the same period last year.

Outflows stemmed mainly from the foreign exchange operations of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and payments made by the national government for its maturing foreign exchange obligations during the month in review. These were partially offset by the national government net foreign currency deposits and income from the BSP’s investments abroad.

Meanwhile, final data on gross international reserves (GIR) level was recorded at $80.419 billion as of end-October lower by $197 million compared to the preliminary GIR level of $80.616 billion due mainly to end-of-month revaluation adjustments on foreign currency-denominated reserves.

Also, the final GIR level was lower by $543 million than the end-September 2017 level of US$80.962 billion. DMS