MANILA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' full-year 2019 balance of payments (BOP) surplus reached 7.84 billion U.S. dollars, a turnaround from the 2.31 billion U.S. dollars BOP deficit recorded in 2018, data from the country's central bank showed on Tuesday.
Based on preliminary data, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) or the central bank of the Philippines said the surplus was supported by higher net receipts of trade in services, personal remittance inflows from overseas Filipinos, and sustained net inflows of foreign direct investments and portfolio investments.
The BSP also said the overall BOP position posted a surplus of 1.57 billion U.S. dollars in December 2019, lower than the 2.44 billion U.S. dollars BOP surplus recorded in the same month last year.
Inflows in December 2019 reflected the BSP's net foreign exchange purchases from its foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad, and increase in the national government (NG)'s net foreign currency deposits, the BSP added.
"These inflows were partially offset, however, by outflows representing payments made by the NG on its foreign exchange obligations during the month in review," the BSP said in a statement.
The BSP said the BOP position reflects the final gross international reserves (GIR) level of 87.84 billion U.S. dollars as of end-December 2019.
At this level, the BSP said "the GIR represents a more-than-ample liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.7 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
"It is also equivalent to 5.5 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.3 times based on residual maturity," the BSP added.
