MANILA, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' overall balance of payments (BOP) position for the period January-April 2019 posted a surplus of 4.27 billion U.S. dollars, a turnaround from the 1.5 billion U.S. dollars BOP deficit recorded in the first four months of 2018, the country's central bank said on Monday.
"The surplus may be attributed partly to remittance inflows from overseas Filipinos and net inflows of foreign portfolio investments (net BSP-registered transactions based on custodian banks' reports) during the first quarter of the year, and net inflows of foreign direct investments in the first two months of 2019," the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
The BOP is the aggregate net value of all transactions for goods and services with the rest of the world.
The BSP said the country's overall BOP position posted a surplus of 467 million U.S. dollars in April 2019, a reversal of the 270 million U.S. dollars BOP deficit recorded in the same month last year.
"Inflows in April 2019 stemmed mainly from the BSP's foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad, and the national government's net foreign currency deposits," the BSP added.
However, it said that these were offset partially by the payments made by the national government for its foreign exchange obligations during the month in review.
The reported BOP position reflected the final gross international reserves (GIR) level of 83.88 billion U.S. dollars as of end-April 2019.
At this level, the BSP said the GIR represents a more than ample liquidity buffer and is equivalent to 7.4 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
"It is also equivalent to five times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.5 times based on residual maturity," the BSP added.
