MANILA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' overall balance of payments (BOP) posted a deficit of 298 million U.S. dollars in May 2025, a reversal from the 2-billion-dollar surplus recorded in May 2024, according to the latest Philippine central bank data.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Thursday that the BOP deficit reflected the national government's drawdowns on its foreign currency deposits with the BSP to service external debt obligations.

As a result, the year-to-date BOP shifted from a 1.6-billion-dollar surplus in January-May 2024 to a 5.8-billion-dollar deficit in January-May 2025.

Preliminary data indicated that the year-to-date BOP deficit was mainly due to the continued deficit of trade in goods.

The BOP position mirrored the slight decrease in the country's gross international reserves (GIR), which declined from 105.3 billion dollars at the end of April 2025 to 105.2 billion dollars by end-May 2025.

Despite the modest decline, the BSP said the GIR level remains a strong external liquidity buffer, sufficient to cover 7.1 months' worth of imported goods and payments of services and primary income.

Additionally, it covers approximately 3.3 times the country's short-term external debt based on residual maturity. ■