MANILA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' overall balance of payments (BOP) posted an 895-million-U.S. dollar deficit in February, higher than the 157-million-dollar deficit recorded a year earlier, the Philippine central bank said on Tuesday.
The deficit reflected outflows arising mainly from the national government's net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the central bank to settle its foreign currency debt obligations and pay for its various expenditures, it said.
Notwithstanding the deficit in February, the central bank said the cumulative BOP position remained at a surplus of 2.2 billion dollars in the first two months of the year. "This level is a reversal from the 259-million-dollar deficit recorded in the same period a year ago," it added.
Based on preliminary data, the central bank said the cumulative BOP surplus reflected inflows that stemmed mainly from the Global Bond issuance of the national government in January, personal remittances, and foreign portfolio investments.
The gross international reserves (GIR) level decreased to 98.2 billion dollars as of end-February from 100.7 billion dollars as of end-January, it said.
Moreover, the central bank said it is also about 5.9 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.9 times based on residual maturity. ■