PH books August dollar surplus
The Philippines posted its third dollar surplus this year in August after the central bank made a killing with its investments abroad, helping improve the country’s external position.
Latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed the country’s balance of payments (BOP) position swung to a surplus of $359 million, reversing the preceding month’s shortfall of $167 million.
The BOP, which tracks all foreign exchange inflows and outflows, had been largely negative this year. But August marked one of the few months when dollar inflows outpaced outflows.
“The BOP surplus reflected the Bangko Sentral’s net income from its investments abroad,” the BSP said.
The latest surplus narrowed the cumulative deficit for the first eight months to $5.4 billion—about five-sixths of the $6.3 billion full-year shortfall the central bank projected for 2025.
Trade imbalance
The year-to-date BOP had stayed in deficit largely due to the country’s continued trade imbalance, the BSP explained. State statisticians have yet to release August trade figures, but data through July showed a gap of $28.46 billion—down 4.9 percent from a year earlier.
The central bank said the drag from a wide trade shortfall was partly offset by remittances from overseas workers and foreign borrowings by the national government. It also cited steady inflows from foreign direct investments, portfolio funds in the local market and earnings from the business process outsourcing sector.
The BOP surplus last month, in turn, shored up the country’s external defenses. The central bank said gross international reserves (GIR) climbed to $107.1 billion at the end of the month, from $105.4 billion in July.
These reserves—made up of foreign securities, currencies and gold—serve as a critical buffer. They allow the Philippines to cover imports and service foreign debt, while helping steady the peso and cushion the economy against external shocks.
The BSP said the GIR in August could cover 7.2 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. Those funds were also enough to pay about 3.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity.
