MANILA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' overall balance of payments (BOP) posted a 1.5 billion U.S. dollar surplus in October, compared to the 711 million dollar deficit recorded a year ago, the country's central bank said Monday.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the BOP surplus in October brought the current year-to-date BOP level to a 3.2 billion dollar surplus, a reversal from the 7.1 billion dollar deficit recorded in the same period last year.

Based on preliminary data, the BSP said this development reflected mainly the improvement in the trade balance alongside the higher net inflows from personal remittances, trade in services, and the national government's foreign borrowings.

"Further, net inflows from foreign direct investments contributed to the surplus," the central bank said.

The gross international reserves (GIR) level increased to 101 billion dollars by the end of October, representing a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.5 months' worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, the BSP added.

The October GIR level is about 5.8 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.7 times based on residual maturity.