Philippines now in longest dollar inflow winning streak since 2013

MANILA, Philippines – Net dollar inflows into the Philippine economy surged to their highest level in almost six years due to a trifecta of substantial remittances from overseas Filipino workers, and a surge of both short- and long-term investments into the country.

More importantly, the strong performance of the country’s balance of payments (BOP) — the aggregate net value of all transactions for goods and services with the rest of the world — in the first four months of the year marks the longest streak of foreign currency inflows outdoing outflows since 2014.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the BOP position for the January–April 2019 period posted a surplus of $4.27 billion. This represents a turnaround from the $1.5-billion BOP deficit recorded in the first four months of 2018.

“The surplus may be attributed partly to remittance inflows from overseas Filipinos and net inflows of foreign portfolio investments during the first quarter of the year, and net inflows of foreign direct investments in first two months of 2019,” the central bank said.

Read more: Business Inquirer