THE country’s balance of payments (BOP) swung to a deficit in July, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data released late on Wednesday showed, reversing from two straight months of surpluses.
The BOP — a record of all the money going into and out of the country — hit a $1.5-billion shortfall last month from a $3.4-billion surplus in June and the year-earlier deficit of $167 million.
It brought the cumulative January-July shortfall to $5.3 billion, which was narrower than the $5.8 billion recorded in the same period last year.
“The year-to-date BOP position reflected the continued trade-in-goods deficit and net outflows from foreign portfolio investments,” the BSP said in a statement.
“These were partly offset by the sustained net inflows from personal remittances of overseas Filipinos (OFs), foreign borrowings by the NG (national government), trade in services, and foreign direct investment,” it added.
Meanwhile, the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) fell to $103.3 billion at end-July from $104.7 billion at end-June, the BSP also said on Wednesday.
The figure is slightly lower than the preliminary $103.4 billion reported earlier this month. It remained the lowest in 18 months, or since January 2025’s $103.27 billion.
The central bank said the decrease was mainly driven by its net foreign exchange operations, government drawdowns of foreign currency deposits for external debt payments, downward valuation adjustments in foreign currency-denominated reserve assets and the government’s net foreign currency withdrawals.
These were partly offset by income from the central bank investments abroad and upward valuation adjustments in gold holdings due to the increase in the price of metal in the international market.
Despite the decline, the end-July GIR level remained sufficient to cover 6.7 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
It can also service about 3.7 times the country’s short-term external debt based on residual maturity, the BSP said.
