The balance of payments (BOP) position registered a surplus of $3.5 billion in the first quarter, higher than the $495 million surplus recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

The BOP surplus increased due to higher net inflows (or net borrowing by residents from the rest of the world) in the financial account amounting to $5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2023 from the $4.7 billion net inflows in first quarter of 2022.

The current account registered a deficit of $4.3 billion (equivalent to -4.3 percent of the country’s GDP) in the first quarter of 2023, from the $4 billion deficit (equivalent to -4.2 percent of the country’s GDP) in the first quarter of 2022.

This was due mainly to the widening trade in goods deficit and lower net receipts in the primary income account. This was partly muted by the increase in net receipts in the trade in services account.

The capital account recorded net receipts amounting to $21 million in the first quarter of 2023, a reversal from the $19 million net payments recorded in the same quarter in the previous year.

This was due mainly to the decline in gross acquisitions of non-produced non-financial assets (e.g., patents, trademarks, and copyrights) to $2 million in the first quarter of 2023 from the $42 million comparable figure recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

The financial account recorded net inflows (or net borrowing by residents from the rest of the world) amounting to $5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2023 from net inflows of $4.7 billion in the same period a year ago.

This was largely on account of the increase in net inflows in the other investment account coupled with the reversal of the portfolio investment account to net inflows. However, this was slightly tempered by the decline in net inflows recorded in the direct investment account.

Gross international reserves (GIR) settled at $101.5 billion as of end-March 2023, lower than the $107.3 billion level registered as of end-March 2022.

The peso appreciated against the US dollar by 4.6 percent to average P54.86/US$1 in the first quarter of 2023 from an average of P57.39/US$1 in the fourth quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, the peso depreciated year-on-year by 6.1 percent from an average of P51.53/US$1 in the first quarter of 2022. BSP