BSP: $4.75 billion deficit reported in January-November

The country’s overall balance of payments (BOP) position yielded a surplus of US$847 million in November 2018, a reversal from the $44 million deficit recorded in the same month last year, the Bangko Sental ng Pilipinas said.

Inflows in November 2018 stemmed mainly from the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and its income from its investments abroad during the month. These were partially offset, however, by the payments made by the National Government (NG) for its foreign exchange obligations and its net foreign currency withdrawals during the month in review.

Notwithstanding the surplus posted in November, the cumulative BOP position for the period January-November 2018 registered a deficit of $4.75 billion, higher than the $1.78 billion BOP deficit recorded in the comparable period in 2017.

The higher cumulative BOP deficit for the period may be attributed partly to the widening merchandise trade deficit (based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s preliminary data) for the first 10 months of the year that was brought about by the sustained rise in imports of raw materials and intermediate goods, as well as capital goods to support domestic economic expansion.

The reported BOP position reflected the final gross international reserves (GIR) level of $75.68 billion as of November.

At this level, the GIR represents a more than ample liquidity buffer and is equivalent to 6.7 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It is also equivalent to 5.6 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.9 times based on residual maturity. /