BOP gap widens to $596 M in January

Despite a better than expected trade surplus, the country’s balance of payments deficit in January widened to $596 million from the year ago deficit of $306 million.

BOP, which is the record of the country’s transactions with the rest of the world, consists of the current account and the capital and financial account.

Bangko Sentral Governor Rafael Buenaventura attributed the much bigger BOP red ink to the overall weak capital and financial account as the pullout of short-term "hot money" in the stock market offset gains in longer-term foreign direct investments (FDI).

The lack of drawdowns in official development assistance loans and the absence of new borrowings by the Bangko Sentral also contributed to the weak capital and financial account.

Latest available Bangko Sentral data showed the overall BOP capital and financial account plummeted to $1.1 billion in January this year from the $211 million gap in January last year.

Bangko Sentral data also showed that portfolio investments or those referred to as "hot money" went down by 64 percent to a deficit of $143 million in January from the $404 million surplus recorded a year ago. FDI in January this year stood at $53 million, a reversal of the $82 million deficit registered a year ago.