Dollar reserves dip in September on lower gold prices, weak peso

The country’s dollar reserves declined to $81.35 billion as of end-September due to lower global gold prices and a weak peso, preliminary Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data released yesterday showed.

The gross international reserves (GIR) level last month dropped from $86.14 billion in September last year and end-August’s $81.72 billion.

“The month-on-month decline in the GIR level was due mainly to outflows arising from the revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings resulting from the decrease in the price of gold in the international market, payments made by the national government for its maturing foreign exchange obligations, and foreign exchange operations of the BSP,” Deputy Governor and BSP officer-in-charge Maria Almasara Cyd Tuaño-Amador said in a statement.

The peso traded at 11-year lows in September.

The drop in GIR was nonetheless partially offset by net foreign currency deposits by the national government and income from the BSP’s investments abroad, Tuaño-Amador added.