Gross int’l reserves up in July

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) (Photo By patrickroque01/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

By Anna Leah Gonzales, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) level went up to USD105.65 billion as of end-July this year from USD105.19 billion in June, preliminary data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed.

In a statement on Wednesday, the BSP said the increase in GIR reflected mainly the upward valuation adjustments in the BSP’s gold holdings due to the increase in the price of gold in the international market, net income from the BSP’s investments abroad, and the national government’s net foreign currency deposits with the BSP.

The BSP said the net international reserves, which refers to the difference between the BSP’s reserve assets (GIR) and reserve liabilities (short-term foreign debt and credit and loans from the International Monetary Fund), also increased to USD105.62 billion as of end-July 2024 from the end-June 2024 level of USD105.16 billion.

“The latest GIR level represents a more than adequate external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.8 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income,” the BSP said.

The central bank said the GIR is also about 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.8 times based on residual maturity.