The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported an end-October net income of P31.15 billion, lower than same time last year of P42.12 billion, based on its preliminary statement of income and expense.
For the 10 month period, BSP revenues dropped eight percent to P96.50 billion from P104.94 billion last year. Interest income fell to P70.21 billion from P85.91 billion while miscellaneous income increased to P26.29 billion from P19.03 billion.
Expenses were 12.4 percent lower at P60.07 billion as of end October from P68.55 billion same time in 2019. Interest expense remained unchanged at P37.39 billion from P37.32 billion.
The BSP also reported net foreign exchange (FX) losses of P5.14 billion during the period compared to net FX gains of P14.49 billion last year. The FX rate fluctuations come from the BSP’s foreign currency transactions such as FX investments, servicing of maturing obligations and derivatives.
As of end October, the BSP has total assets of P7.3 trillion, up 46.3 percent from same period in 2019 of P4.99 trillion. Its total liabilities increased by 47.2 percent to P7.15 trillion from P4.85 trillion.
The central bank assets come mostly from international reserves and domestic securities. This year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the BSP’s domestic securities went up to P1.32 trillion as it was buying government securities as part of its measures to improve liquidity and instill confidence in the market. In 2019 end-October, the BSP’s domestic securities only amounted to P226.56 billion.