Phl BoP swings to $167-M deficit in July—BSP

The Philippines’ balance of payments (BoP) position slipped into a US$167-million deficit in July, reversing the surpluses of ₱226 million a month earlier and ₱62 million in the same period last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported.

BSP Deputy Governor Lyn Javier said the shortfall was mainly due to the national government’s drawdowns on its foreign currency deposits with the central bank to settle external debt obligations.

The BoP, which records the country’s trade, remittances, capital transfers, and investments, remained in the red with a cumulative deficit of US$5.76 billion from January to July 2025 — a turnaround from the US$1.5-billion surplus posted in the same period in 2024.

“The year-to-date BoP deficit was largely due to the continued trade in goods deficit,” Javier explained, noting that inflows from overseas remittances, foreign borrowings, and portfolio investments partly offset the gap.

The BSP now expects the deficit to reach US$6.3 billion by year-end, higher than its earlier US$4-billion projection, before narrowing to US$2.8 billion in 2026.

The shortfall also weighed on gross international reserves (GIR), which slipped to US$105.4 billion in July from US$106.0 billion a month earlier. 

Despite the dip, Javier stressed that reserves remain a “sufficient external liquidity buffer,” covering 7.2 months’ worth of imports and 3.4 times the country’s short-term external debt. TRACY CABRERA