PH ended 2019 with biggest ever $87.8-B dollar stash

The Philippines ended 2019 with the highest dollar reserves on record, thanks to the central bank’s income from foreign exchange operations, overseas investments and inflows from the government’s borrowing program, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Tuesday (Jan. 7).

In a statement, the BSP said its preliminary data showed that the country’s gross international reserves rose by $1.63 billion to $87.86 billion as of end-December 2019 from $86.23 billion as of end-November 2019.

This marked an increase of almost 11 percent over the $79.1 billion in dollar reserves recorded at the end of 2018. A large buffer of dollar reserves helps insulate the local economy from volatility caused by sudden exit of capital as it helps stabilize the peso against foreign currencies like the US dollar.

The BSP said the dollar inflow was offset partly by outflows for foreign debt payments.

It said the end-December 2019 level of dollar reserves provided ample liquidity buffer for 7.7 months’ worth of imports of goods and services and payment of primary income.

The dollar level was also equivalent to 4.3 to 5.5 times the Philippines’ external debt.

Net international reserves, or the difference between the BSP’s stash and short-term liability, increased by $1.62 billion to $87.83 billion as of end-December 2019 from the end-November 2019 level of $86.21 billion.

Previous to the full year 2019 level, the country’s all-time high record of dollar reserves was $83.8 billion reported at the end of 2012.

Edited by TSB