Highest in history: PH has $85.6B in dollar reserve

Foreign currency inflow pushed the country’s dollar reserves higher in August — the highest level in the Philippines’ history — which bodes well for the strength of the peso and industries that buy raw and intermediate materials from abroad.

Preliminary data showed the country’s gross international reserves rose by $430 million to $85.61 billion as of end-August 2019 from $85.18 billion at the end of the previous month, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said on Friday.

“The month-on-month increase in the [dollar reserve] level reflects the national government’s net foreign currency deposits and BSP’s income from its investments abroad,” he said in a statement.

“However, the increase in reserves was partially tempered by payments made by the national government for servicing its foreign exchange obligations,” the central bank chief added.

The end-August 2019 level of dollars held by the BSP serves as an external liquidity buffer and is equivalent to 7.5 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income./tsb