THE country’s gross international reserves (GIR) rose to $77.83 billion as of end-August, higher than the $76.72 billion in July, but lower than the $81.51 billion recorded in August 2017, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has reported.
BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said that based on the preliminary data from the Central Bank, the country’s GIR level increased due mainly to inflows arising from the national government’s net foreign currency deposits, as well as the BSP’s income from its investments abroad, which were partially tempered by payments made by the national government for its foreign-exchange obligations, foreign-exchange operations of the BSP and revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings resulting from the decrease in the price of gold in the international market.
“The end-August 2018 level of GIR remains as an adequate external liquidity buffer and is equivalent to 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods, and payments of services and primary income. It is also equivalent to 6.2 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 4.2 times based on residual maturity,” the BSP said in a statement.
Net international reserves, which refers to the difference between the BSP’s GIR and total short-term liabilities, increased to $77.82 billion as of end-August 2018, coming from the end-July 2018 level of $76.71 billion.
The country’s GIR is the economy’s dollar cushion against potential rapid foreign-exchange volatilities in the global scene.