The country’s balance of payments (BoP) yielded a deficit of $414 million in September, an improvement from a shortfall of $2.3 billion a year ago, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Thursday.
It said the BoP deficit in September reflected net outflows arising mainly from the government’s payments of foreign currency debt.
The BSP said despite the deficit in September, the cumulative BoP position registered a surplus of $1.7 billion in the first three quarters of 2023, a reversal from the $7.8-billion deficit recorded in the same period last year.
“Based on preliminary data, this development reflected mainly the improvement in the balance of trade and the higher net inflows from personal remittances, trade in services, and foreign borrowings by the national government,” it said.
The gross international reserves level decreased to $98.1 billion as of end-September 2023 from $99.6 billion as of end-August 2023. It still represented a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.3 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
It was also about 5.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.6 times based on residual maturity.
The BSP expects the BoP to incur a small deficit of $100 million in 2023. The bank’s Monetary Board approved the new set of 2023 and 2024 BoP projections in its Sept. 14, 2023 meeting. The new set of BoP projections incorporated the latest available data and recent emerging developments.
“The 2023-2024 forecasts for overall BoP position have been revised to reflect the estimated narrower current account shortfall over the forecast horizon. This development is hinged mainly to the expected contraction in goods exports and goods imports,” it said.
The current account is expected to post a deficit of $11.1 billion this year, an improvement from the previous estimate of $15.1-billion shortfall.
The BoP deficit hit $7.3 billion last year, a turnaround from the $1.3-billion surplus recorded in 2021.