More Cash – Philippines allow import of higher amounts

More Cash – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) increases the amount of cash that can be carried when arriving or leaving.

Those travelling to and from the Philippines would be allowed to carry as much as PHP 50,000 starting next month, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.
Those bringing P50,000 in and out of the country will no longer need written authorization from the BSP, the central bank said in a circular.
“A person may import or export, or bring with him into or take out of the country, or electronically transfer, legal tender Philippine notes and coins, checks, money order and other bills of exchange drawn in pesos against banks operating in the Philippines in an amount not exceeding PHP 50,000 without prior authorization from the BSP,” it said.
The previous ceiling was set at PHP 10,000.
The ceiling for Philippine residents in the purchase of foreign exchange without supporting documents was also raised to USD 500,000 from the previous limit of USD 120,000, the central bank added.

What about declaration?

It is good that travellers can bring more cash to the Philippines. Not many tourists will bring Philippine Peso banknotes. The exchange rates abroad are usually much lower than here in the Philippines. The big advantage is to bring other legal tenders up to USD 500,000. We know several Europeans who wanted to bring their money to build a house in the Philippines. But they didn’t or couldn’t get through the legal import paper stuff.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas did not inform about declaration on the customs form. Does Philippine Customs distribute new forms for travellers? The old form still contains the limit of PHP / USD 10,000. Maybe travellers will still have to declare amounts above PHP / USD 10,000. This point is not clear. Maybe those with more than 10,000 pesos will still have to declare but do not need a written authorization from the BSP. Probably clarification will come next week – maybe…

More Cash?

It seems that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the government try to attract mid-range investors. High level commercial and institutional investors transfer their funds over other channels. Although inflation is rather moderate at this moment, the question arises whether the new Philippines government needs cash.

Do not forget!

If you still have old Philippine banknotes, you have to hurry. In about 4 months your old banknotes completely loose their value. You can light your cigar! The old banknotes can be only be exchanged at the outlets of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas until December 31, 2016. Hurry and have a look at the cash you get back. There are still millions of old banknotes out in the public.

[GARD]