BSP posts P856-M loss

THE BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported a net loss of P856 million in the third quarter.

Citing preliminary and unaudited data, the BSP said in its “Report on Economic and Financial Developments” for the third quarter of 2015 that total revenues during the July to September period reached P11.806 billion, down from P16.083 billion in the second quarter “as miscellaneous income decreased by 78.8 percent from the previous quarter’s aggregate level, due mostly from reduced trading gains from domestic and foreign currency securities,” the BSP said.

During the third quarter, net income from its branches also dropped by 48.2 percent or about P400 million quarter-on-quarter, the BSP added.

Total expenditures, meanwhile, amounted P17.993 billion in the third quarter, lower than the P18.538 billion posted in the preceding quarter.

“The quarter-on-quarter decrease in expenditures was due mainly to lower interest expense on loans payable and other foreign currency deposits, cost of minting/printing of currencies and other expenses,” the BSP said.

At the end of the first nine months, the BSP recorded a net loss of P3 billion, smaller than the P5.276-billion net loss from a year ago.

End-September revenues increased to P43.188 billion from P36.175 billion last year, while expenses also rose to P53.839 billion this year from the previous year’s P50.54 billion.

The BSP also widened its asset base to P4.296 trillion as of end-September from P4.062 trillion a year ago “due to the higher level of international reserves and other assets accounts.”

“The international reserves account rose to P3.754 trillion in the third quarter of 2015, an increase of 3.6 percent from the previous quarter’s P3.622 trillion. The uptick was attributed mainly to the increase in the level of reserves along with the depreciation of the Philippine peso against the US dollar. Moreover, the other assets account climbed to P215.6 billion or by 10.6 percent from the previous quarter’s P194.9 billion,” the BSP said.

Liabilities nonetheless also went up at the end of the first nine months to P4.254 trillion from P4.013 trillion in the same period last year.