Manila: The country's balance of payments (BOP) reversed its path and posted a USD226 million surplus in June 2025, from a USD155 billion deficit in the same period last year.

According to Philippines News Agency, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday attributed this development to the foreign currency deposits by the national government with the central bank and the central bank's investment income. This resulted in a drop in the deficit in the country's BOP position in the first half of this year to USD5.6 billion from the previous year's USD5.8 billion.

BOP refers to the sum of the country's transactions with the rest of the world. The BSP attributes the BOP deficit to date to "the continued trade in goods deficit." Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the trade deficit in the first half of this year totaled USD19.7 billion, lower than the USD20.7 billion in the same period last year.

Amidst the impact of the trade deficit, the BSP stated that "sustained net inflows from personal remittances from overseas Filipinos, foreign borrowings by the national government, and foreign portfolio investments" helped counter the deficit in the BOP position. This brings the country's gross international reserves (GIR) at the end of June to USD106 billion from USD105.2 billion in May.

"The latest GIR level provides a robust external liquidity buffer, equivalent to 7.2 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income," the BSP added.