Overall BOP posts $541 million surplus in November

December 19, 2019

The overall balance of payments (BOP) position posted a surplus of $541 million in November, lower than the $847 million BOP surplus recorded in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Thursday.

Inflows in November reflected the BSP's foreign exchange operations, 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.

On a cumulative basis, the BOP position for the period January - November 2019 posted a surplus of $6.27 billion, a turnaround from the $4.75 billion BOP deficit recorded from January to November 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 BOP position reflects the final gross international reserves (GIR) level of US$86.23 billion as of end-November 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. 

It is also equivalent to 5.4 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.2 times based on residual maturity. DMS