Gross international reserves level settled at $80.79 billion in July

August 7, 2017

Preliminary data showed that the country’s gross international reserves (GIR) level stood at $80.79 billion as of end-July, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Nestor Espenilla, Jr. announced Monday in a statement,

This level was lower by $0.53 billion than end-June’s $81.32 billion but higher by $0.1 billion than the end-2016 level.

“The month-on-month decline in the GIR level was due mainly to outflows arising from the BSP’s foreign exchange operations and payments made by the National Government for its maturing foreign exchange obligations,” said Espenilla.

These outflows and payments “were partially offset by revaluation adjustments on the BSP’s gold holdings resulting from the increase in the price of gold in the international market and net foreign currency deposits by the NG as well as BSP’s income from its investments abroad,” added Espenilla.

The end-July level could adequately cover 8.6 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income.

It is also equivalent to 5.5 times the country’s short-term external debt based on original maturity and 3.7 times based on residual maturity.

Net international reserves, which refer to the difference between the GIR and total short-term liabilities, decreased by $0.54 billion to $80.78 billion as of end-July 2017, compared to the end-June NIR of$81.32 billion. DMS