MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines’ gross international reserves, or GIR, reached a record $36.5 billion in March, rising mainly due to accumulation of dollars by the central bank and income from investments abroad, the central bank said.

That level of GIR—up 0.6 percent from a revised $36.3 billion at end-February and up 48 percent from $24.68 billion in March last year—can cover 6.2 months’ worth of imports and is equivalent to 5.2 times the country’s short-term foreign debt based on original maturity, said the central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The GIR has been steadily rising since 2006 after the BSP started taking advantage of strong dollar inflows to build it up and keep the peso from rising too fast.

In 2007 the peso gained 19 percent and became Asia’s best performer, after rising more than eight percent in 2006.

This year, the peso has fallen about 0.67 percent so far.

The BSP had been intervening in the foreign currency market by buying dollars to temper the rise of the peso, which adversely affects incomes of exporters and families of overseas Filipino workers.

Based on residual maturity, which includes payments for medium- to long-term debts that will fall due within one year, the current GIR level is equivalent to 3.2 times of the liabilities.

The BSP has projected that GIR at $35-$37 billion at yearend, compared with $33.75 billion at end-2007.

Economic officials have said the gradually increasing inflows of foreign capital into the country are also to be credited for the sustained increase in the GIR.

The Philippines recorded a 7.3-percent economic growth last year, the fastest in 31 years. Edited by INQUIRER.net