End-January 2020 GIR level settles at $86.42 billion

February 7, 2020

Gross international reserves, based on preliminary data, settled at $86.42 billion as of end-January 2020 from the end-December 2019 GIR level of $87.84 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.

At this level, the GIR can cover 7.6 months' worth of imports of goods and services and payments of primary income.

It is also equivalent to 5.3 times the country's short-term external debt based on original maturity and four times based on residual maturity.

The month-on-month decline in the GIR level reflected outflows arising from the National Government's foreign exchange withdrawal, which was used mainly to pay its foreign exchange obligations.

However, the decline was partially tempered by the BSP's net foreign exchange purchases from its foreign exchange operations and income from its investments abroad.

Net international reserves (NIR), which refers to the difference between the BSP's GIR and total short-term liabilities, decreased by $1.42 billion to $86.42 billion as of end-January 2020 from the end-December 2019 level of $87.84 billion. DMS