Higher global gold prices further lifted the country’s dollar reserves to another record high of $85.9 billion in September, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.
The end-September gross international reserves (GIR) level was higher than the $85.8 billion recorded a month ago and $80.5 billion a year ago, preliminary BSP data showed.
In a statement, BSP Deputy Governor and officer-in-charge Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. attributed the higher GIR mostly to “the national government’s net foreign currency deposits, the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and its income from investments abroad, along with revaluation adjustments on its gold holdings resulting from the increases in the price of gold in the international market.”
The increase in GIR last month, however, was tempered by the national government’s payments for maturing foreign exchange obligations, Espenilla said.
The GIR level at end-September can cover 10 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of income and services.
The dollar reserves were also equivalent to six times the short-term external debt based on original maturity, as well as 4.3 times based on residual maturity.
The net international reserves, or the difference between the GIR and total short-term liabilities, also rose to $85.9 billion in September from $85.8 billion a month ago.
Due to weak global trade in the first quarter, the BSP had slightly cut its projected balance of payments (BOP) position for 2016, which monetary authorities expect to taper to a $2-billion surplus from the earlier projection of $2.2-billion.
The BOP is a summary of all the businesses the country does with the rest of the world. A surplus means the amount of dollars that entered the economy was more than the amount that left.
The projected end-2016 GIR level was nonetheless kept at about $82.7 billion, higher than 2015’s $80.7 billion.