MANILA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The Philippine central bank on
Friday revised up its projections for the country's current
account and balance of payments surpluses this year and in 2021,
underscoring an improved outlook for the pandemic-hit economy.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) now expects the
current account surplus for this year to reach $8.4 billion, or
2.3% of GDP. For next year, the surplus is seen at $6.1 billion,
or 1.5% of GDP.
The forecasts were increased from the September projections
of $6 billion (1.6% of GDP) for 2020 and $3.1 billion (0.8% of
GDP) for next year.
The balance of payments is now seen yielding a surplus of
$12.8 billion this year (3.4% of GDP) compared with $8.1 billion
(2.2% of GDP) projected previously.
For 2021, the BOP surplus is forecast to hit $3.3 billion
(0.8% of GDP) versus a previous projection of $3.4 billion (0.9%
of GDP).