The Philippines’ overall balance of payments showed a surplus of USD642 million in December, up from USD612 in the same period in 2022, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.
The December BOP surplus reflected inflows from the national government’s net foreign currency deposits with the central bank, net income from the BSP’s investments abroad, and the central bank’s net foreign exchange operations.
The December print brought full-year 2023 BOP to a surplus of USD3.7 billion, a sharp reversal from the USD7.3 deficit in 2022, The net inflow was due to higher net personal remittances of Filipinos working overseas, trade in service, and foreign borrowings of the national government.
Gross international reserves level increased to USD103.8 billion as of end-December 2023 from USD102.7 billion as of end-November 2023.
The latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.8 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It is also about 6.0 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.8 times based on residual maturity.
