BSP: BoP surplus hits 4-month high in May
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2019 16:55:54 +0000
THE country’s balance of payments (BoP) surplus hit a four-month high in May, boosting the year-to-date tally to surpass the central bank’s target for 2019.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Wednesday that the $928 million posted last month was higher than the $467-million surplus in April and reversed the $583-million deficit recorded a year ago.
It was also the largest since January, when the payments position stood at a surplus of $2.704 billion, and also boosted the year-to-date tally.
The January-May balance was a $5.193-billion surplus, also a turnaround the $2.080-billion shortfall posted a year earlier.
The five-month tally already surpassed the central bank’s upwardly revised forecast of a $3.7-billion surplus for this year.
“Inflows in May 2019 stemmed mainly from the national government’s net foreign currency deposits, and the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad,” the central bank said in a statement.
These were partially offset by payments made by the national government for its foreign exchange obligations.
The five-month surplus, meanwhile, “may be attributed partly to remittance inflows from overseas Filipinos during the first four months of the year, and net inflows of foreign portfolio, foreign direct and other investments in the first quarter of 2019,” the Bangko Sentral said.
Personal remittances reached $10.811 billion in January to April, up 3.7 percent from the $10.426 billion posted a year earlier.
Foreign portfolio investments, meanwhile, posted a $3.363-million net inflow in the first quarter of the year, lower than P766.05 million a year ago.
Net foreign direct investments hit $1.941 billion in the first three months, down 15.1 percent from the amount in the same period in 2018.
The BoP ended at a deficit of $2.306 billion last year, wider than the $863 million recorded in 2017, but lower than BSP’s $5.5-billion forecast.
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