PH peso seen to be supported by BOP, foreign reserves

MANILA – The Philippine peso is seen to get a lift from the expansion of the country’s balance of payment (BOP) position and gross international reserves (GIR).

On Thursday, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported higher BOP, which is the summary of a country’s transactions with the rest of the world, and foreign reserves for August 2021.

“Going forward, any improvement in BOP and GIR for the coming months could help provide greater cushion/support/buffer for the peso exchange rate vs. the US dollar especially vs. any speculative attacks,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort said in a report.

On Thursday, the local currency closed the trade at 50.24 to a greenback.

Also, the BSP reported the USD1.044 billion BOP surplus last August, higher than the USD642 million in the previous month and the USD657 million in August last year.

The latest BOP surplus lowered the BOP deficit in the first eight months this year to -USD253 million.

The central bank attributed the higher BOP surplus last August primarily to the additional allocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to the Philippines by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the gains from the central bank’s investments overseas.

The country’s foreign reserves posted an uptick to USD107.96 billion last August, which is equivalent to 10.8 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.