MANILA -  The Philippines booked a balance of payments surplus of $1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2024, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said on Friday.

This was a reversal of the deficit of $1.2 billion in Q2 2023, the BSP said. 

"The reversal to a BOP surplus in Q2 2024 was due to significantly higher net inflows posted in the financial account, notwithstanding the increase in the current account deficit," the central bank said.

However, the BSP also noted that in the first half of the year, the country had a BOP surplus of $1.4 billion, which was lower than the $2.3 billion surplus recorded in January to June 2023.

The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) meanwhile also rose to $105.2 billion as of the end of June 2024, from the $99.4 billion level registered at the end of June 2023.

The BSP also noted that the peso in the second quarter averaged P57.80 to $1, depreciating by 3.2 percent relative to an average of P55.96 to $1 in Q1 2024. On a year-on-year basis, the peso depreciated by 3.7 percent from P55.65 to $1 in Q2 2023. For January to June 2024, the peso averaged at P56.88 to $1, depreciating by 2.9 percent from the average of P55.25 to $1 in January to June 2023.