Philippines posts $711 million balance of payments surplus

The Philippines' overall balance of payments (BOP) posted a surplus of 711 million U.S. dollars in October, albeit lower than the 1.1b dollars recorded a year earlier, the Philippine central bank said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the BOP surplus in October reduced the cumulative BOP deficit in JanuaryOctober 2022 to 7.1 billion dollars from a deficit of 7.8 billion dollars in the first three quarters of the year.

"The BOP surplus in

October 2022 reflected inflows arising mainly from the national government's net foreign currency deposits with the BSP," the BSP said.

Meanwhile, the current year-to-date BOP level, which is a reversal from the 476 million dollar surplus recorded in the same period a year ago, reflected the widening trade in goods deficit as goods imports continued to surpass goods exports on the back of the ongoing surge in international commodity prices and resumption in domestic economic activities.

UN climate talks got a fillip Wednesday as

Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched the country back into the battle to curb global warming and global leaders reaffirmed key pledges.

Lula arrived Tuesday in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and went straight into climate diplomacy with meetings with US envoy John Kerry and China's Xie Zhenhua.

The leftist politician, who served as president from 2003 to 2010, is expected to inject much needed momentum into the COP27 climate talks in his first international trip since defeating far-right incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, who presided over years of rampant Amazon deforestation.

"Brazil is back in the world to debate the climate issue," Lula tweeted late Tuesday. "We will be a source of pride for the world." Lula is expected to present his plan for "zero deforestation" in a speech Wednesday afternoon at the COP27 conference.

Kerry told a COP27 biodiversity panel on Wednesday that the United States would work with other nations to help protect the Amazon.

"I was pleased last night to meet with president-elect Lula and was really encouraged by the ways in which he talked about for once and for all getting it right ... in order to preserve the Amazon," Kerry said.