Forex reserves end 2015 at $80.61B

The country’s gross international reserves (GIR) settled at $80.61 billion as of end-2015, a level higher month-on-month and year-on-year but slightly lower than the government target.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data released on Thursday showed that the end-December 2015 GIR level rose from $80.17 billion in November “due mainly to the national government’s net foreign currency deposits as well as the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and its income from investments abroad.”

But the BSP said inflows of international reserves last month were partially offset by the government’s payments for maturing foreign exchange obligations.

The end-2015 figure was also up from $79.54 billion in 2014.

Last year’s GIR level was slightly below the BSP’s adjusted forecast of $80.7 billion.

Last month, the BSP cut its 2015 GIR target from $81.6 billion, which monetary authorities partly attributed to slower growth in dollar remittances.

The BSP nonetheless noted that the end-2015 GIR level “remains ample,” or enough to cover 10.3 months’ worth of imports of goods as well as payments of income and services.

The end-December 2015 GIR was likewise equal to 5.5 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity as well as four times based on residual maturity, the BSP said.

The BSP defines short-term debt based on residual maturity as outstanding external debt with original maturity of one year or less, plus principal payments on medium- and long-term loans of the public and private sectors combined that will be due in the next 12 months.

This year, an increase in the balance of payments or BOP surplus to $2.2 billion from the projected $2 billion last year was seen resulting to a rise in the GIR level to $82.7 billion, equivalent to nine months of import cover. Ben O. de Vera