Forex reserves hit record $68.8B in May

The country’s gross international reserves climbed further to a record $68.8 billion in May, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Tuesday.

BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the figure was $300 million higher than the previous month’s $68.5 billion.

Tetangco said the sustained increase in the country’s reserves was mainly due to the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and income from investments abroad.

He said these inflows were partially trimmed when the government settled its maturing foreign exchange obligations.

Another factor that partially limited the inflows was the revaluation losses on the BSP’s gold holdings. A month-on-month decline in gold prices was observed in May.

The BSP chief said foreign exchange reserves as of end-May could cover 10.6 months’ worth of imported goods and payments of services and income.

“It was also equivalent to 10.9 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity, and six times based on residual maturity,” Tetangco added.

Short-term debt based on residual maturity refers to 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 falling due within the next 12 months.

Also, the country’s net international reserves (NIR), which included revaluation of reserve assets and reserve-related liabilities, also rose by $200 million to $68.7 billion from the level posted in April.

The NIR refers to the difference between the BSP’s gross international reserves and total short-term liabilities.—Ronnel W. Domingo