Philippine balance of payments posts $4.48bn deficit in January

The Philippines' balance of payments (BOP) registered a deficit of 4.48 billion U.S. dollars in January, the local central bank said Wednesday. Data released by the Philippine central bank showed that the BOP position of the country in January was a reversal of a 2.04 billion U.S. dollars surplus recorded in the same period last year. Philippine central bank officials said this is due to outflows in foreign portfolio investments and from the government's debt servicing. Foreign portfolio investments, or "hot money," recorded a net outflow of 1.84 billion U.S. dollars in January. The deficit came four months after the Philippines recorded a surplus. The local central bank, however, expects the country's BOP position to improve in the coming months as global financial markets have started to stabilize. The country's BOP for the whole of 2014 is expected to record a surplus of 3 billion U.S. dollars, lower than the 5.08 billion U.S. dollars posted last year.