First half BOP surplus widens to $3.23 billion

Higher investments, foreign loan proceeds, and money sent home by Filipinos abroad helped widen the Philippine balance of payments (BOP) surplus to $3.235 billion from January to June, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Monday. The six-month payments position was 46-percent broader than the numbers recorded in the same period last year. The BOP refers to the country's foreign exchange transactions with the rest of the world. In June, the payments surplus totaled $502 million or nearly seven times over the $73 million booked in the same month last year. The country's BOP surplus narrowed to $89 million in 2008 from $8.67 billion in 2007, squeezed by the full impact of the global financial crisis. The BOP position recovered last year with a $5.295 billion surplus. With imports likely outpacing exports this year, the country’s payments position would likely be tempered, the BSP said. Monetary authorities this month revised the year's gross international reserves (GIR) forecast as the measure amounted to a record level of $48.42 billion as of end-June on higher income from the central bank's foreign exchange operations, investments abroad, and gold holdings. BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. earlier said authorities now see GIR widening to $50 billion from the revised forecast of $48 billion to $49 billion this year. The GIR, which measures in dollar equivalent the available foreign exchange resources to meet essential import requirements, was $738 million broader in June than the $47.689 billion posted in May and the $39.589 billion registered in June last year. Remittances from overseas Filipinos, export earnings, inward monetary transfers to companies in business process outsourcing also helped boost the country’s GIR. At $48.42 billion, the GIR could pay for nine months worth of imports, or pay for nearly 10 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and nearly five times of foreign debts based on residual maturity. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV