GIR still at healthy level of $75.64B in September

Although growth of the country’s reserves of foreign currencies appeared to have faltered, after setting record levels practically every month for over a year, the amount remained significant at $75.64 billion in September.

Gross international reserves as of end-September was lower than the $75.94 billion registered in August, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported on Friday.

Since March last year, the GIR registered record levels month after month, boosted largely by remittances and foreign portfolio investments.

The BSP said the latest amount of foreign exchange reserves indicated that inflows, both in the form of remittances and portfolio funds, remained strong, but not as robust as that reported the previous month.

This was due to the market’s concern over the prolonged debt crisis in the Euro zone, officials said.

In September, some foreign fund owners withdrew their investments in securities from emerging markets like the Philippines as the unfavorable outlook on the global economy dampened their risk appetite.

Foreign exchange traders said some foreign portfolio investors opted to liquefy their assets and hold on to their dollars as the the global economic outlook, brought on by the debt crisis in Europe, remained dim.

The BSP cited other factors that led to the month-on-month drop in the GIR, such as the government move to settle some of its foreign currency-denominated obligations, and the decline in the value of the country’s gold reserves.

Prices of gold in the world market fell in September from that of a month ago, the BSP reported.

Nonetheless, the GIR as of end-September was significantly up year-on-year from $53.75 billion.

The BSP also said the GIR as of end-September was enough to cover 11.3 months of the country’s usual import requirements. It was also 6.3 times the country’s foreign currency-denominated debt maturing in the short term.