Philippine balance of payments posts 19 mln USD deficit in April

The Philippines' balance of payments (BOP) continued to register a deficit in April due to the government's payments of foreign exchange-denominated debt, the local central bank said Monday.

The Philippine central bank said the BOP deficit in April amounted to 19 million U.S. dollars, a reversal of the 274 million U.S. dollars surplus recorded in April 2013. The deficit last month, however, was narrower than the revised 340 million U.S. dollars deficit registered in March.

In January to April, the BOP deficit reached 4.49 billion U.S. dollars, a reversal of the 1.81 billion U.S. dollars surplus recorded in the same period last year.

The local central bank said this is due to the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to reduce its bond-buying program which triggered outflows in foreign portfolio investments or "hot money.

Philippine BOP position is expected to settle at a surplus of 3 billion U.S. dollars this year, lower than the 5.08 billion U.S dollars surplus recorded last year.Enditem