The Philippines registered a US$ 8.6 billion balance of payment surplus in the first 11 months of 2012, boosted by the surplus of nearly US$ 2.2 billion for November alone.
By Joann Santiago
Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Wednesday showed the surplus last November is more than thrice the US$ 604 million surplus in the previous month and way higher than the US$ 364 million same period in 2011.
The surplus from January to November this year is, on the other hand, lower than the US$ 10.3 billion registered same period last year.
It is, however, higher than the revised US$ 6.8 billion surplus target for this year.
"Main drivers for BOP surplus in November were capital inflows, loan proceeds of the national government and investment income of BSP," BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said in a text message to reporters.
Last Nov 9, the Philippine government sold a total of P30.8 billion (US$ 750 million) worth of 10-year Peso Global Bond.
The freshly-issued peso denominated global note fetched a coupon rate of 3.90 percent and were priced at 100 percent, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said.
The third global peso note issuance brings to nearly P229 billion the total amount of Peso Global Bond that the government has issued since September 2010.
It is denominated in peso but is settled in US dollars.
