BOP surplus reaches US$ 9.93B

The Philippines’ balance of payment (BOP) position rose to US$ 9.93 billion in end-October 2011 from month-ago’s US$ 9.72 billion, central bank data show.
Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) show that the BOP surplus in the first 10 months this year was also higher than year-ago’s US$ 9.2 billion.
However, the US$ 208-million surplus last October alone was lower than the previous month’s US$ 208 million and way below year-ago’s US$ 2.74 billion.
Last month’s surplus was also the lowest so far for this year, the same data show.
BOP is the summary of the country’s total transactions with the rest of the world.
Monetary officials earlier said the capital inflows and money being sent home by Filipinos abroad boosted the BOP surplus.
The BSP forecasts a US$ 6.7 billion BOP surplus for this year but this figure, along with the other BOP components, are now being reviewed and result of which is expected to be released this month.
The country’s BOP surplus in 2010 reached US$ 14.31 billion, way above the US$ 6.42 billion in the previous year.
As of last September, remittances reached US$ 14.76 billion, 7.1 percent higher than year-ago’s US$ 13.78 billion.
While foreign portfolio investments, otherwise known as hot money, due to the speed it comes in and out of the economy, posted a YS$ 3.45 billion net inflow as of October 29 this year, higher than year-ago’s US$ 2.51 billion. [PNA]