Manila's foreign reserves to hit $26.6b
Afp, Manila
Philippine foreign reserves for 2007 are forecast to be 26.6 billion dollars with an increased surplus due partly to higher remittances from Filipinos abroad, the central bank said Wednesday. In a statement the bank said the balance of payments for the year is expected show a surplus for the year of between 2.4 billion to 2.9 billion dollars. The central bank had previously projected foreign reserves would climb to 26 billion dollars by the end of the year from 23 billion at the end of last year.The bank upgraded its forecast on the back of last month's reserves reaching a record 25.8 billion dollars, the bank said. The surplus for the first five months of the year was 2.4 billion dollars which was over 30 percent more than the surplus of 1.8 billion recorded in the corresponding period last year.
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