First time this year: BOP swings to surplus

The Philippines recorded its first dollar surplus this year in March on the back of inflows from the national government’s new foreign currency deposits with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and earnings of the central bank from its investments abroad.

The overall balance of payments (BOP) position posted a surplus of $1.2 billion in March, reversing two straight months of deficits, data released on Friday by the BSP showed.

The BOP summarizes a country’s economic transactions with the rest of the world during a certain period. A surplus arises when more foreign funds entered the economy against those that left, which may increase foreign exchange resources used to pay for foreign debts and meet import requirements. A BOP deficit means the reverse happened.

Data showed that the March surplus was the biggest windfall since October 2023. But on a year-on-year basis, the amount was down by 8 percent.

Nonetheless, the March net inflows were large enough to turn the three-month BOP to a surplus of $238 million, albeit significantly lower than the $3.45 billion windfall recorded in the same period last year.

The BSP said the cumulative BOP surplus “reflected mainly the improvement in the balance of trade alongside the net inflows from personal remittances, net foreign borrowings by the national government, foreign direct investments and foreign portfolio investments.” INQ