MANILA - The Philippines recorded a balance of payments surplus of $506 million in July, according to the latest data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

This is much higher than the $73 million registered by the central bank in June.

The cumulative surplus in the first 7 months of the year stood at $2.72 billion.

The Philippines' successful $750 million global bond sale recently and strong remittance inflows could push up the balance of payments surplus to $1 billion this year, higher than the BSP's original $700 million surfeit estimate for 2009.

In 2008, the country had a surplus of $89 million, the lowest in 4 years.

The BSP is currently reviewing its balance of payments figures and the revised numbers will be released in September. -abs-cbnNEWS.com, with Reuters