PHL posts $448-M BOP surplus in March
THE country’s Balance of Payments (BOP)—OR the summary of the Philippines’ transactions with the rest of the world—still yielded positive numbers in March despite the onset of restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) during the month.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Tuesday that the country’s overall BOP position hit a surplus of $448 million in March. A BOP surplus means that the country is earning more dollars than it is spending for a given period.
March 2020’s surplus is significantly lower than the $627-million surplus in the same month last year and the $839-million surplus seen in February 2020. It was in mid-march when the government decided to put the country on community quarantine in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.
According to the Central Bank, March’s BOP numbers reflected mainly the inflows arising from the BSP’S foreign-exchange operations, as well as income from its investments abroad, and the national government’s foreign currency deposits with the BSP.
These inflows could have been higher, however, if not partially offset by the foreign currency withdrawals made by the national government to pay its foreign currency debt obligations during the month in review.
The BOP surplus in March reduced the cumulative BOP deficit for the period January to March 2020 to $68 million, from a deficit of $516 million for the first two months of the year.
The country’s BOP level in the first three months of 2020 is a reversal from the $3.8-billion BOP surplus recorded in the first quarter of 2019.
“This development may be attributed partly to the reversal of foreign portfolio investments to net outflows from net inflows in the first quarter of 2019, even as the merchandise trade deficit declined,” the BSP said.