Feb. 12--BSP Governor Amando Te-tangco Jr. said the BOP surplus may be less than $2 billion but will be higher than the $88-million recorded last year.

"BOP could reach more than $500 million to less than $2 billion this year," the governor told reporters on the sidelines of the Security Bank Corp.'s economic forum.

BOP summarizes the economic transactions of an economy's residents with the rest of the world. This composed of the country's current account or the aggregate balance of goods, services and transfers; capital and financial accounts; and other BOP accounts.

Tetangco said the surplus would be higher despite slower growth in remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and plunging exports.

However, the growth in BOP surplus will be supported by lower oil prices as well as the national government's higher foreign debt requirements. Last month, the government sold $1.5-billion worth of bonds abroad and is expected to tap the international debt market again to help fund its infrastructure projects to stimulate economic growth.

In addition, the sustained growth in service sector, particularly the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, will help bring in more dollars in the country.

The local BPO sector make up 5 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) while OFW remittances and exports contribute 10 percent and 30 percent, respectively, to the economy.

GDP is the total value of goods and services produced within a country.

During the economic forum, ATR KimEng economist Luz Lorenzo said the country's growth is expected to slightly improve this year to 4.9 percent from 4.6 percent last year due to decelerating inflation, stable remittances and low interest rates.

However, Lorenzo said the country needs to grow by at least 6 percent to generate enough employment amid increasing job cuts locally and abroad.

"To see sufficient employment . . . its not going to happen with the current growth rates," she said.

The country's economic managers projected GDP growth may range from 3.7 percent to 4.7 percent, mainly supported by domestic consumption.

Security Bank CAR to drop

Meanwhile, Security Bank said it expects its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) would drop this year due to slower credit growth.

Alberto Villarosa, Security Bank president said the bank's CAR would drop from last year's 18 percent to 15 percent "as we expand loan portfolio."

Security Bank's loans grew by 40 percent last year.

Villarosa said the lender would be relying on the expansion of its retail banking business since corporate lending will be slower. Security Bank's core business is mainly driven by large corporate accounts.

"Our main objective is not by bank acquisition but acquiring a customer business," he said.

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