Philippines posts $359 million BOP surplus in August

Manila, Sep 20 (IANS) The Philippines' balance of payments (BOP), which accounts for the transactions of the country with the rest of the world, registered a surplus of 359 million US dollars in August 2025, higher than the 88 million dollars recorded in August 2024, the Philippine central bank said.

In a statement issued Friday night (local time), the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the surplus reflected income from its investments abroad and helped narrow the year-to-date deficit to 5.4 billion dollars from 5.8 billion in January-July.

The deficit was mainly due to the trade in goods gap, partly offset by remittances, foreign borrowings, investments, and services trade, the BSP added.

According to the BSP, the BOP position mirrored the increase in the gross international reserves (GIR), which rose from 105.4 billion dollars as of end-July 2025 to 107.1 billion dollars as of end-August 2025.

The BSP said the level of GIR remains an adequate external liquidity buffer, equivalent to 7.2 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, reports Xinhua news agency.

Moreover, it covers about 3.7 times the country's short-term external debt based on residual maturity.

In a separate development, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel on Friday said the Philippines is considering extending its rice import suspension by 15 to 30 days as farmgate prices of palay, or unhusked rice, improve.

Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos earlier imposed a 60-day ban from September to October to protect local farmers during the peak harvest season.

Laurel said the Department of Agriculture will recommend to Marcos by the end of September whether to prolong the moratorium. "Pending data validation, I am now inclined to recommend that he extend the ban for at least 15 to 30 days," he added.

According to preliminary data, wet palay prices rose from as low as 8-10 pesos (0.14-0.17 US dollars) per kilo before the ban to 17 pesos (0.29 dollars) in some parts of Mindanao, and 13-14 pesos (0.22-0.24 dollars) in major rice-growing provinces.

The cost of producing a kilo of palay is estimated at 12-14 pesos (0.21-0.24 dollars), Laurel said.

--IANS

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