July BOP swings to $62-M surplus

The country's balance of payments (BOP) surplus stood at $62 million in July, a turnaround from the $53-million deficit a year ago and the $155-million shortfall in February, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

- KEISHA TA-ASAN

"The BOP surplus in July reflected inflows mainly from the net income from the BSP's investments abroad and the national government's net foreign currency deposits with the BSP," the central bank said in a statement.

The BOP is the difference in total values between payments into and out of the country over a period.

A surplus means more dollars flowed into the country from exports, remittances, business process outsourcing earnings and tourism receipts than what flowed out to pay for the importation of more goods, services and capital.

For the January to July period, the BOP surplus fell by 31.8 percent to $1.5 billion from $2.2 billion in the same period in 2023.