Philippines starts 2026 with balance of payments deficit

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines posted a balance of payments (BOP) deficit in January, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Thursday.

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The BOP accounts for the transactions of the country with the rest of the world. It  swung to negative $373 million in the first month of 2026. 

This, however, was milder than the $827-million deficit posted in December 2025.

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This translated to a gross international reserves of $112.6 billion as of January. The buffer amount is enough to cover 7.5 months’ worth of imports and above global adequacy benchmarks.