MANILA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' overall balance of payments (BOP) posted a deficit of 439 million U.S. dollars in May, sharply lower than the 1.6-billion-dollar BOP deficit recorded a year ago, according to the Philippine central bank data released Monday night.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the BOP deficit in May this year reflected outflows arising mainly from the national government's net foreign currency withdrawals from its deposits with the BSP to settle its foreign currency debt obligations.
Notwithstanding the deficit in May, the Southeast Asian country's cumulative BOP position registered a 2.9-billion-dollar surplus in the first five months of the year, the BSP added.
"This level is a reversal from the 1.5 billion U.S. dollars deficit recorded in the same period a year ago," the BSP said.
Based on preliminary data, the BSP attributed the cumulative BOP surplus to net inflows from personal remittances, the national government's net foreign borrowings, trade and services, and foreign direct investments.
The BSP said the gross international reserves (GIR) level decreased to 100.6 billion dollars as of end-May, representing a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.4 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.
The GIR level is about 5.8 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.1 times based on residual maturity, it added. ■