Philippine c.bank sees Aug BOP surplus up vs July

MANILA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Philippine central bank expects the country to post a larger balance of payments (BOP) surplus in August against July's $91 million and exceed its full-year forecast, the bank governor said.

Amando Tetangco told reporters on Sunday the healthy balance of payments surplus in August was driven by strong inflows of remittances from overseas Filipinos and foreign portfolio investments.

'I think it's going to be higher than the BOP surplus in July,' Tetangco said. 'We will have a better, firmer figure once we get the end-Aug (forex) reserve figure.'

August foreign exchange reserve data is scheduled to be released on Tuesday.

Official documents presented to the central bank's policy-making Monetary Board, copies of which were obtained by Reuters, showed preliminary gross international reserves as of Aug. 20 were $49.32 billion from a revised $49.04 billion at the end of July.

The same documents indicated an initial BOP surplus of $245.78 million for Aug. 1 to 20, and a year-to-date surfeit of $3.57 billion.

The central bank will release official August BOP data on Sept. 20.

Monetary authorities have previously said the country's BOP surplus could reach $3.7 billion by year-end, lower than 2009's $5.3 billion surplus.

'The way it looks, we may exceed the BOP surplus projected for 2010, we will be reviewing the numbers and release the updated projections by November,' Tetangco said.

Tetangco reiterated the country could exceed the central bank's foreign exchange reserve forecast of $50 billion by the end of 2010.

A rebound in demand for the country's major electronics exports and an inflow of foreign funds seeking higher returns have helped lift the country's foreign exchange reserves and balance of payments.

(Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco; Editing by Karen Foster) (([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail])) Keywords: PHILIPPINES ECONOMY/CBANK (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.