MANILA, October 20 ------ The Philippines' balance of payments deficit widened to $2.3 billion in September, which was much higher than the $412 million deficit in the same month last year.
"The BOP deficit in September 2022 reflected outflows arising mainly from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ net foreign exchange operations and the National Government’s payments of its foreign currency debt obligations," the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in a statement.
From January to September, the cumulative BOP deficit reached $7.8 billion, higher than the $655 million deficit recorded in the same period last year, data showed. This is largely due to the widening trade deficit as goods imports continued to surpass goods export, the surge in international commodity prices and the resumption of domestic economic activity, the BSP said. Meanwhile, the gross international reserves (GIR) level declined to $93 billion as of the end of September. The total is lower compared to the $97.3 billion the previous month, the central bank said.
The GIR level represents more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.4 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It is also about 6.6 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4 times based on residual maturity.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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