BSP earns in January-April B

With trimmed open market expenses, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) posted a R3.36-billion income as of end-April although 19 percent lower than same time last year of R4.15 billion.

The BSP also reported realized gains from foreign exchange rate fluctuations of R5.22 billion as of end-April compared to R3.06 billion.

Prudent control of foreign exchange rate swings – these come from BSP’s foreign currency transactions such as foreign exchange investments, servicing of maturing obligations and derivatives – have enabled the central bank to cut its foreign exchange losses.

The BSP’s unaudited statement of income and expenses showed revenues amounted to R19.69 billion during the period which was down 17.6 percent year-on-year from R23.90 billion. Revenues are mainly sourced from the central bank’s reserves and securities.

Expenses were also lower by 5.6 percent to R21.54 billion from R22.81 billion because of lower interest expenses on overnight deposit facility.

Meantime, the BSP’s total assets were up three percent year-on-year to R4.64 trillion as of end-April while total liabilities stood at R4.58 trillion, down by 2.69 percent year-on-year. Its net worth went up to R62 billion from last year’s R46.44 billion.

The central bank reported a R17 billion net income in 2016, which reversed the R4.45 billion losses in 2015.

The central bank’s foreign exchange rate fluctuations was still in the positive or R19.11 billion in 2016 and managed to keep it in the positive for the first four months of the year.

The BSP usually incur financial losses because of currency fluctuations and it is the management of these currency fluctuations that ensure financial stability.