MANILA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' full-year balance of payments (BOP) surplus reached an all-time high of 16.02 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, data from the Philippine central bank showed.
"This level is more than two times higher compared with the 7.84 billion U.S. dollars BOP surplus recorded in 2019," the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a statement on Monday.
The BSP said higher net foreign borrowings by the national government and lower merchandise trade deficit, along with sustained net inflows from personal remittances, foreign direct investments, and trade in services accounted for the favorable performance in 2020.
The BSP said the BOP position posted a surplus of 4.24 billion U.S. dollars in December 2020, significantly higher than the 1.57 billion U.S. dollars BOP surplus recorded in December 2019.
The BSP said the BOP surplus in December 2020 reflected inflows mainly from its foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad, and the national government's foreign currency deposits with the BSP of proceeds from its issuance of the country's global bonds.
However, the BSP said the national government's payments of its foreign currency debt obligations partly offset these inflows.
According to the BSP, the BOP position reflects an increase in the final gross international reserves (GIR) level to 110.12 billion U.S. dollars as of end-December 2020 compared with 104.82 billion U.S. dollars as of end-November 2020.
The BSP said the latest GIR level represents an adequate external liquidity buffer, which can help cushion the domestic economy against external shocks.
"This is equivalent to 11.8 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income," the BSP said, adding it is also about 9.5 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 5.4 times based on residual maturity. Enditem
