Philippines posts 612 mln USD balance of payments surplus in December

MANILA, Jan. 19– The Philippines’ overall balance of payments posted a surplus of 612 million U.S. dollars in December 2022, lower than the 991 million dollars recorded a year earlier, the Philippine central bank said on Thursday. The December BOP surplus reduced the full-year 2022 BOP deficit to 7.3 billion dollars from a deficit of 7.9 billion dollars from…

MANILA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) — The Philippines’ overall balance of payments (BOP) posted a surplus of 612 million U.S. dollars in December 2022, lower than the 991 million dollars recorded a year earlier, the Philippine central bank said on Thursday.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the BOP surplus in December reflected inflows arising mainly from the BSP’s net foreign exchange operations and net income from its investments abroad.

The December BOP surplus reduced the full-year 2022 BOP deficit to 7.3 billion dollars from a deficit of 7.9 billion dollars from January to November 2022. And the full-year 2022 BOP deficit was a reversal from the 1.3 billion dollar surplus recorded in 2021.

The BSP attributed the cumulative BOP deficit to the widening trade in goods deficit as goods imports continued to surpass goods exports on the back of the increase in international commodity prices and resumption in domestic economic activities.

The BSP said the gross international reserves (GIR) level increased to 96.1 billion dollars as of end-December, adding that the latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.3 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

Moreover, it added the GIR level is about 5.9 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.9 times based on residual maturity. Enditem