Bangko Sentral says March payments position swung into surplus

The Philippine balance of payments (BOP) position swung to a $452-million surplus in March, reversing the deficits registered a year earlier and last February, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Friday. In March 2012, the Philippines posted a $209-million payments deficit and $960 million last February . The March surplus brought the BOP position to $1.535 billion in the first quarter of the year, or 23 percent wider than the $1.243 billion in the first three months of 2012. BOP is the sum of transactions by the Philippines with the rest of the world. A surplus is a condition that reflects more money having entered the country in a particular period, thus having the funds to pay-off eternal obligations. A BOP surplus also helps build up foreign exchange reserves, which serve as cushion against external shocks. Gross international reserves (GIR) widened to $84.1 billion in March from $83.6 billion a month earlier. The March foreign reserves were adequate to cover 11.9 months worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income, the Bangko Sentral reported early this month. It said the March GIR was equivalent to 9.9 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 6.3 times based on residual maturity. — SOA/VS, GMA News