BW FILE PHOTO

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) saw its net income surge in the first half amid higher interest earnings, preliminary data showed.

The central bank’s net profit surged by 330.51% to P85.50 billion in the six months ending June from P19.86 billion a year earlier, according to data posted on its website.

Revenues went up by 56.9% year on year to P164.08 billion from P104.58 billion.

Broken down, interest income made up bulk of the BSP’s revenues during the first semester at P119.76 billion, rising by 28.21% year on year from P93.41 billion.

Miscellaneous income, which includes fees, penalties and other operating income, stood at P44.32 billion at end-June, up by 296.78% from P11.17 billion a year earlier.

On the other hand, the BSP’s expenses declined by 8.9% year on year to P106.13 billion in the first half.

Broken down, other expenses, which include net trading losses, fell by 40.02% to P21.82 billion from P36.38 billion. Meanwhile, interest expenses rose by 5.19% year on year to P84.31 billion as of June.

This brought the central bank’s net income before foreign exchange (FX) gains, tax, and capital reserves to P57.95 billion in the first semester, a turnaround from the P11.94-billion loss it posted in the comparable year-ago period.

Its bottom-line was boosted by a P27.56-billion net FX gain from its foreign currency-denominated transactions in the period.

Meanwhile, separate BSP data showed that its assets went up by 8% to P7.874 trillion at end-June from P7.294 trillion a year ago.

International reserves made up bulk of its assets at P6.13 trillion, up from P5.46 trillion a year prior.

On the other hand, the BSP’s liabilities climbed by 7.6% to P7.667 trillion in the first half from P7.126 trillion.

Currency in circulation stood at P2.31 trillion as of June, while deposits with the central bank were at P2.599 trillion, the data showed.

The central bank’s net worth stood at P207.73 billion as of June, up 24.14% from P167.34 billion a year earlier. — AMCS