The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) posted P25.57 billion in net income as of end-April, up 125.68 percent year-on-year, still fueled by miscellaneous income.
Based on the BSP’s preliminary and unaudited statement of income and expense report , revenues expanded by 83.8 percent to P59.79 billion in the first four months from same period in 2020 of P32.54 billion.
BSP revenues are mostly interest income from reserves and domestic securities, and miscellaneous income. Interest income totaled P33.67 billion, up 24.98 percent from P26.94 billion.
Miscellaneous income continue to increase by 367 percent to P26.12 billion from P5.59 billion. This includes trading gains/losses, fees, penalties and other operating income, among others.
The BSP accumulated bulk of government securities -- reported at P1.408 trillion as of end-April compared to same time last year of P330.80 billion -- as part of its anti-pandemic response to ensure adequate liquidity in the financial system. As of June 24, the BSP has purchased an equivalent of 6.12 percent of GDP of debt papers in the secondary market.
The BSP had a higher end-April expenses of P34.27 billion or up by 47.3 percent from P23.27 billion same period in 2020. Interest expenses increased by 33.98 percent to P19.08 billion from P14.24 billion while other expenses amounted to P15.19 billion from P9.03 billion last year or up by 68.22 percent.
The central bank’s foreign exchange net gains end-April was just P30 million compared to P2.07 billion end-April 2020. The P30 million was also lower than end-March’s P930 million.
The BSP’s total assets as of end-April, composed mainly of international reserves, stood at P7.686 trillion which was higher by 35.6 percent year-on-year or from P5.668 trillion.
Its total liabilities which are mostly deposits and currency issues, also increased by 36.5 percent to P7.547 trillion versus P5.528 trillion in 2020.
Last year, the BSP reported a net income of P34.53 billion which was down from 2019’s P46.24 billion. It advanced dividends to the National Government worth P20 billion in 2020, despite that the BSP is no longer mandated to remit dividends to the national coffers.
Also in 2020, the BSP provided the government an emergency P300 billion bridge financing via a repurchase agreement in March last year, and extended provisional advances amounting to P540 billion in October. When prepaid, the P540 billion was again renewed by end-December last year.
The Monetary Board last week approved a fresh P540 billion loan to the government. The temporary financial assistance has provided fiscal authorities added flexibility in the government’s pandemic response programs, said the BSP.
Overall, the BSP’s liquidity enhancing measures infused P2.16 trillion of liquidity into the financial system, about 12.14 percent of the country’s nominal GDP as of July 1.