May BoP surplus soars to $2.43B

THE country’s balance of payments (BoP) position surged to a 16-month-high surplus of $2.43 billion in May, supporting the year-to-date tally, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed on Wednesday.

According to the data, the amount was higher than the $1.66 billion and $928 million surpluses in April and in May 2019.

In a statement, the central bank said the May surplus “reflected mainly the inflows arising from the national government’s [NG] foreign currency deposits with the BSP as well as the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad.”

“These inflows were partially offset, however, by the foreign currency withdrawals made by the NG to pay its foreign currency debt obligations during the month in review,” it added.

While the latest amount boosted the January-to-May surplus to $4.02 billion, the year to-date BoP position remains much lower than the $5.19-billion surplus in the same period in 2019.

The tally was bigger than the BSP’s revised forecast of a $600-million surplus for this year.