Philippines reports $3 billion balance of payments surplus in June

The Philippines reported a balance of payments surplus exceeding $3 billion in June 2026, a figure that helped narrow the deficit for the first half of the year. This comes amid a period of economic complexity, including a 14.5% year-on-year decrease in foreign direct investment net inflows recorded in August.

Separately, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported that gross international reserves (GIR) fell to $103.378 billion in July. The decline from the $104.744 billion recorded in June was attributed to the central bank’s net foreign exchange operations and the national government’s foreign currency withdrawals used to settle external debt obligations.

The decline was partially offset by upward valuation adjustments in gold holdings due to rising international gold prices and net income from investments abroad. Despite the decrease, the BSP maintains that the current reserves are adequate, estimated to cover approximately 6.7 months of imports and payments of services, and representing about 3.6 times the country’s short-term external debt.